Elon Musk reverses suspension of journalists' accounts on Twitter

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - After suspending several prominent journalists on Twitter, Elon Musk backed out on the crisis Saturday and lifted the suspensions after holding a survey on the social media website.

"The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," Musk wrote on Twitter.

Among accounts suspended without warning or explanation were Matt Binder of Mashable, Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Ryan Mac of The New York Times, Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, Micah Lee of The Intercept, Steve Herman of Voice of America and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster.

The move came one day after the platform suspended the popular account, @ElonJet, that was tracking Musk’s private jet.

Responding to a tweet on the suspension, Musk on Thursday tweeted: “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

“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!” he later tweeted.

Twitter also banned the official account of Mastodon, a social media platform that has been seen as a potential alternative to Twitter following Musk’s takeover.