Play all audios:
Twitter suspended the accounts of reporters from _The New York Times_, _The Washington Post_, CNN, and several other news organizations Thursday evening, without explanation. Most of the
suspended journalists cover Twitter and its new owner, Elon Musk, and Musk suggested on Twitter that the suspensions were tied to his new policy of not posting the real-time location of his
private jet, or any user's "live location information." Twitter on Wednesday banned the automated flight-tracking account @elonjet and its creator, 20-year-old Jack Sweeney.
Musk blamed that account for a "crazy stalker" purportedly harassing a car carrying his young son through Los Angeles, though he didn't explain the connection. CNN's
Donie O'Sullivan said he was banned from Twitter after posting a screenshot of a Los Angeles Police Department statement that no such crime had been reported. _Mashable_ tech reporter
Matt Binder said his account was suspended after he posted a screenshot of O'Sullivan's tweet. "I did not share any location data, as per Twitter's new terms,"
Binder told _The Associated Press_. "Nor did I share any links to ElonJet or other location tracking accounts." SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind
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the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. "Musk
seems to be just stamping out accounts that he doesn't like," O'Sullivan said on CNN. Twitter informed several of the reporters that their accounts are "permanently"
suspended, but hasn't explained why. Musk tweeted that criticizing him is fine but "doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not"; that the "same
doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else"; and that the suspended journalists "posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in
(obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service." He also suggested the accounts would be suspended for seven days. "None of the tweets from suspended reporters that the
_Post_ has reviewed revealed the location of Musk or his family," _The Washington Post_ reports. The _Post_, the _Times_, CNN, and the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists all
criticized Twitter's opaque and seemingly arbitrary suspension of journalists, especially given Musk's avowed commitment to "free speech." "It's impossible to
square Twitter's free speech aspirations with the purging of critical journalists' accounts," ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said in a statement. "The First
Amendment protects Musk's right to do this, but it's a terrible decision." Paul Barrett, at the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, called the suspensions
"surely the dumbest and most hypocritical move Elon Musk has made as owner and 'Chief Twit.'" The journalists suspended Thursday included Ryan Mac at the _Times_, Drew
Harwell at the _Post_, Voice of America's Steve Herman, Micah Lee of _The Intercept_, and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olberman, and Tony Webster.