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With no clear explanation, Twitter began suspending the accounts of several journalists Thursday night, including reporters from CNN, the washington mail, Mashable, and the New York Times.
If the accounts had one thing in common, it was mostly journalists who covered technology and regularly reported on Twitter owner Elon Musk. Jason Kint of Digital Content Next, an industry association representing digital media companies, has a public list of the suspended accounts available here. It includes the following:
- Independent journalist Aaron Rupar
- CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan
- Drew Harwell, of the Washington Post
- Former MSNBC host and pundit Keith Olbermann
- Mashable’s Matt Binder
- Micah Lee from The Intercept
- Ryan Mac, New York Times
- Independent journalist Tony Webster
Elon Musk seemed to explain the suspensions in a few tweets.
Criticizing me all day is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Musk was referring, in part, to the suspended journalists who reported on Twitter about the suspension of @elonjet, the student account that tracked the comings and goings of the billionaire’s private jet. Tesla’s CEO later tweeted the following:
I love Barbara Streisand lol
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
In the second tweet, Musk alluded to what’s known as “The Streisand Effect,” named after singer Barbra Streisand, who in 2003 tried to suppress photos of her home by suing the photographer. The lawsuit drew a lot of attention to the photos. As a result, they were viewed by many more people than if the lawsuit had not been filed. The Streisand effect occurs when attempts to suppress information have the unintended consequence of the information being widely publicized.
The Streisand effect shows two things relevant to Musk’s fame: the power of the internet to spread information and how difficult it can be to control the spread of information once it’s released.
It seems many of these journalists had recently tweeted the ElonJet-mastodon link as part of their coverage of Musk, and were banned as a result. @micahflee was banned after posting this tweet: pic.twitter.com/ZIWm2aRFQY
— Mel Buer (@mel_buer) December 16, 2022
Twitter has also suspended the rival social media platform’s official account Mastodon after it tweeted that the @Elonjet account was still available there.
However, as of late Thursday, rivals’ Twitter accounts Facebook, Tribe Socialand Tumblr owner Automaticallyas well as upstart Post.News — who has yet to tweet — were still active.
