Twitter suspends accounts of several prominent journalists, cites 'doxxing' as reason
Washington (US), December 16: Twitter has suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists, who have been covering the social media site and its owner Elon Musk, citing rules against "doxxing."
According to the New York Times, the suspended accounts include Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of The Intercept, political journalist Keith Olbermann, Aaron Rupar and Tony Webster, both independent journalists. On Thursday, the micro-blogging platform displayed "account suspended" notices on the accounts of these journalists.
The development has come after Twitter issued a policy update on Thursday prohibiting the sharing of "live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes."
In his tweet, Twitter user Mike Solana pointed out that the suspended accounts had posted links to jet trackers on other websites. In response to Solana, Musk stated, "Same doxxing rules apply to "journalists" as to everyone else."
"Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," Musk further wrote.
"They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service," Musk said.
Also Read | Shraddha Murder Case: Bones found in Delhi forest match with DNA of victim’s father
To dox someone or something, according to the Oxford dictionary, means to reveal information about someone on the internet, usually in order to harm them.
"Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone travelled to on a slightly delayed basis isn't a safety problem, so is ok," Musk said on Thursday.
Musk previously stated in a tweet that his two-year-old son, X, was doxxed by a "crazy stalker" who mistook his child for him. The stalker was seen wearing a black hoodie and video recording the incident.
"Last night, a car carrying little X in LA was followed by a crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked the car from moving & climbed onto the hood," Musk stated.
Musk responded to the suspension of journalist Twitter accounts by tweeting, "If anyone posted real-time locations & addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there'd be hearings on Capitol Hill & Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!"
According to The New York Times, Twitter suspended more than 25 accounts on Thursday for tracking the planes of government agencies, billionaires, and high-profile individuals, including Musk.
Also Read | Bihar Hooch Tragedy: Death toll soars to 50; political blame game continues
- ANI
