Image COurtesy: Twitter
Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the microblogging platform and that of upstart rival site Mastodon in October, Twitter has reportedly suspended the accounts of numerous journalists who have been covering the new Twit Chief. This is according to Bloomberg News.
Late on Thursday, Twitter disabled the accounts of journalists who work for outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, Mashable, CNN, and Substack. Additionally, the company’s normal notification stating that it “suspends accounts that breach the Twitter rules” is no longer displayed alongside their tweets.
According to Bloomberg, the business also shut down Mastodon’s feed after it had earlier linked to an account on its own website that used publicly accessible flight data to track Musk’s private jet on Twitter.
The social media platform suspended numerous accounts that followed the positions of private jets, including Musk’s.
The @elonjet page displayed a “account suspended” statement as of early Wednesday morning in New York, along with a disclaimer that Twitter suspends accounts that break the terms of service.
Jack Sweeney, who has run the account since June 2020, told Bloomberg News that, upon logging into the account, his Twitter platform stated: “Your account is permanently suspended. After careful review we determined your account broke the Twitter rules. Your account is permanently in read-only mode.”
Sweeney, a University of Central Florida student, claimed he hasn’t received any other emails or other notifications from Twitter. Using publicly available flight data, the account monitors the movements of Musk’s private aircraft and issues automated notifications.
In a tweet from last month, Elon Musk claimed that he was “committed to free speech even to the extent of not blocking the account following my plane, despite it being a direct risk to personal safety.” In late October, Musk paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter.