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☆ Elon Musk reinstates journalists who were suspended from Twitter after conducting a poll about how to handle accounts that 'doxxed' his location
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter on Thursday suspended accounts belonging to several journalists who cover Elon Musk. As of Friday evening, accounts belonging to several journalists had been reinstated. A day prior, the company had suspended accounts run by college student Jack Sweeney — including one that tracked Musk's private jet — and announced new privacy rules. Musk conducted a Twitter poll Thursday asking his followers when he should "Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time," with the options being "Now" or "In 7 days." At the time of publication, accounts belonging to O'Sullivan, Rupar, Mac, Harwell, and Webster had all been reinstated.

☆ A Silicon Valley investor says Elon Musk's move to abruptly suspend journalists on Twitter is 'a direct attack' by the CEO 'on journalism'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Taylor Ardrey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Silicon Valley investor blasted Elon Musk's decision to suspend several journalists on Twitter. "Elon Musk does not believe in journalism," businessman Roger McNamee told MSNBC. The accounts of the journalists, who the Twitter CEO claimed doxxed him, have been reinstated. "This has become a trope among billionaires in Silicon Valley. "I think in this particular case, what we have going on here is a direct attack by Elon Musk on journalism and, by extension, on democracy," McNamee told MSNBC.

"The worst governments are already going to suppress speech," said David Kaye, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine and the former free speech watchdog for the United Nations between 2014 and 2020. The free speech experts who spoke to NBC News on Friday said Twitter's actions could invite international attempts to manipulate Musk. Would some head of state say, 'Hey, can you do this for my country and prevent public reporting?' Kaye, the former U.N. free speech watchdog, said Musk's behavior reminded him in part of authoritarian leaders who enforce rules against challenging the government or criticizing powerful figures, such as royal family members or regime allies. Musk can talk about standing for free speech all he wants, but this should make it clear to everyone that what he’s doing is quite the opposite.

☆ Democrats criticize Elon Musk for suspending journalists covering Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Amanda Terkel | Amanda Is Senior Politics Editor For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON — Democratic members of Congress had harsh words for Elon Musk on Thursday night after Twitter suddenly suspended a number of high-profile journalists who have been covering the company and Musk, its billionaire CEO. In November, shortly after he took over Twitter, Musk tweeted that he would not ban the account. Musk tweeted Thursday night. "Ro Khanna is great," Musk tweeted in response to one of some of the Twitter files. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., tweeted: "Twitter can suspend whoever it wants.

Twitter suspended several high-profile journalists Thursday evening who have been covering the company and Elon Musk. The suspensions come a day after Twitter changed its policies around accounts that track private jets, including one owned by Elon Musk. The Twitter account for Mastodon, a platform billed as an alternative, was also suspended early Thursday evening. As of Thursday evening, Twitter accounts operated by NBC News journalists were unable to tweet a link to the Mastodon account of @ElonJet. The suspensions add to what has been a tumultuous couple of days for Twitter after the company first suspended the account that tracked Musk’s jet.

☆ Elon Musk and AOC got into another Twitter spat, with the congresswoman telling Musk to 'lay off the proto-fascism' and put down his phone
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In response, Musk tweeted: "You first lol." On Thursday evening, Musk suspended the accounts of at least half a dozen journalists and tweeted an explanation for the move. He claimed the suspended journalists had doxxed him, a violation of Twitter's updated privacy policy that was put in place on Wednesday. Musk also alleged on Thursday that the suspended journalists had posted his real-time location online, calling them "basically assassination coordinates." In response, Musk tweeted: "Stop hitting on me, I'm really shy."

☆ Twitter suspends multiple journalists who have been covering, criticizing Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Twitter suspended several journalists' accounts on Thursday. Many of the affected writers had been covering or criticizing Elon Musk in the preceding days. But Rupar told Insider that he didn't believe he had tweeted or even retweeted anything about the ongoing private jet saga. Nearly all of them had been reporting on Twitter, covering Musk, or writing critically about the billionaire in the days leading up to their suspension. The flight data Musk is trying to keep off Twitter is available online to anyone and relatively easy to track.

☆ Twitter suspends accounts of several journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Twitter on Thursday suspended the accounts of several prominent journalists who recently wrote about its new owner Elon Musk, with the billionaire tweeting that rules banning the publishing of personal information applied to all, including journalists. On Wednesday, Twitter suspended @elonjet, an account tracking Musk's private jet in real time using data available in the public domain. Twitter on Thursday showed "account suspended" notices for a clutch of journalists' accounts. A spokesperson for The New York Times said: "Tonight's suspension of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including The New York Times's Ryan Mac, is questionable and unfortunate. We hope that all of the journalists' accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action."

☆ Musk Censors the Press
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk is no free speech warrior. Will news and media organizations remain on the platform, while Musk hastily bans their reporters without explanation? Musk has touted that he is a free speech maximalist and repeatedly said he would like to permit all legal speech. “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means,” Musk once tweeted. As Harwell told me, “Elon says he is a free speech champion and he is banning journalists for exercising free speech.

☆ EU threatens Elon Musk with sanctions after Twitter's suspension of journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The European Union on Friday threatened tech billionaire Elon Musk with sanctions after Twitter removed several journalists that report on him and the social media company. Vera Jourova, the European Commission's vice president for values and transparency, said in a tweet that news of the "arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying." Late Thursday, Twitter abruptly suspended several high-profile journalists who cover him, including CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan and Ryan Mac, a reporter at The New York Times. He suggested these journalists violated Twitter's policy on "doxxing," or exposing a person's identifiable information. Musk now faces possible sanctions from the EU.

☆ The only victim in Elon's beef with journalists is Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Twitter itself knows news and journalists are major drivers of user engagement on its platform. By barring journalists, Musk is openly demonstrating his resentment towards one of Twitter's most active and important userbases, hurting the platform further. Journalists depend on Twitter, and Twitter depends on them tooBy Twitter's own estimates, journalists count for a lot on its platform. Users "regularly follow news-related Twitter accounts, and around 4 in 5 young journalists rely on the platform for their jobs. Journalists use Twitter more than any other social media platform, according to research from Pew in June, treating it as a real-time source of information.

☆ Twitter is now blocking tweets that include links to Mastodon, its competitor
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter appears to be banning the posting of links to its competitor, Mastodon. Insider's attempt to publish tweets containing Mastodon links were met with an error message. On Thursday evening, Insider attempted to publish ten tweets from three separate Twitter accounts, all containing links to various Mastodon user profiles. Other Twitter users also noticed on Thursday evening that they were unable to post links to Mastodon, a platform often touted as an alternative to Twitter. Also on Thursday, Twitter suspended the official Mastodon Twitter account.

☆ Elon Musk argued with reporters on Twitter Spaces about suspending multiple high-profile journalists' accounts — hear the full exchange, including the moment he abruptly left
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

On Thursday, Twitter suspended the accounts of multiple high-profile journalists who cover owner Elon Musk. Elon Musk later dropped into Twitter Spaces, where reporters asked why the accounts were suspended. Multiple reporters, many of whom cover tech, including Musk and Twitter, saw their Twitter accounts suspended without warning or explanation on Thursday. Twitter suspended that account on Wednesday despite Musk, who has called himself a free-speech absolutist, tweeting in November that he wouldn't do so. Twitter Spaces later stopped working, which Musk says happened to fix a "legacy bug," but several Twitter users recorded the exchange between Musk and the reporters.

☆ European Union threatens sanctions over Twitter's ban of journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Elon Musk’s decision to suddenly ban prominent tech journalists from Twitter is fanning a fierce backlash in Europe. Germany warned of the impact on press freedom, while a senior EU official said Twitter must comply with the bloc’s rules or face possible sanctions. “The EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. European leaders previously said they were watching how Musk’s takeover of Twitter would affect the platform. Thierry Breton, a top EU official, warned Musk in late November that the social media platform must take significant steps to comply with the bloc’s content moderation laws.

☆ Elon Musk's Twitter bans several prominent journalists without explanation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Twitter on Thursday evening banned the accounts of several high-profile journalists from top news organizations without explanation, apparently marking a significant attempt by new owner Elon Musk to wield his unilateral authority over the platform. Neither Musk nor Twitter responded to a request for comment Thursday evening, and the platform did not explain precisely why the journalists were exiled from the platform. It also called into serious question Musk’s supposed commitment to free speech. We hope that all of the journalists’ accounts are reinstated and that Twitter provides a satisfying explanation for this action.”“Elon says he is a free speech champion and he is banning journalists for exercising free speech,” Harwell told CNN on Thursday. Several of the journalists banned Thursday had covered the ban of the @ElonJet account, and highlighted the irony of Musk’s self-purported mission to advance free speech.

☆ Twitter suspends account that tracked Elon Musk's private jet, despite billionaire's 'free speech' pledge
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The move comes after Musk has reinstated previous Twitter rule-breakers and stopped enforcing the platform’s policies prohibiting Covid-19 misinformation. Sweeney woke up Wednesday morning to a message from Twitter informing him @ElonJet had been permanently suspended. Later in the day his personal account and other jet-tracking accounts he ran were also shut down by the company. According to screenshots Sweeney shared with CNN, Musk reached out to him last December through a Twitter private message asking, “Can you take this down? “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation.

☆ Twitter is less safe due to Elon Musk’s management style, says former top official
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN Business —Twitter owner Elon Musk’s dictatorial management style risks driving the company headlong into unforced business blunders, content moderation disasters and the degradation of core platform features that help keep vulnerable users safe, according to a former top Twitter official who led the company’s content moderation before abruptly resigning this month. For two weeks after Musk closed his purchase of Twitter, Roth presented himself as a voice of stability and calm at the center of a company undergoing dramatic change. Roth knew that by remaining at the company, Musk was using him to help keep advertisers from abandoning the platform. In a subsequent New York Times op-ed, Roth said his reason for leaving came down to Musk’s highly personal and improvisational approach to content moderation. Before Musk took over Twitter, Roth wrote down several commitments to himself that would trigger the decision to quit.

☆ Twitter is no longer enforcing its Covid misinformation policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —Twitter said it will no longer enforce its longstanding Covid misinformation policy, yet another sign of how Elon Musk plans to transform the social media company he bought a month ago. In 2020, Twitter developed an extensive set of rules that sought to prohibit “harmful misinformation” about the virus and its vaccines. Between January 2020 and September 2022, Twitter suspended more than 11,000 accounts for breaking Covid misinformation rules and removed almost 100,000 pieces of content that violated those rules, according to statistics published by Twitter. Instead, some Twitter users Monday night spotted a note added to the page on Twitter’s website that outlines its Covid policy. It is possible that among the restored accounts will be some of the 11,000 banned under Twitter’s former Covid misinformation rules.

☆ Elon Musk gives ultimatum to Twitter employees: Do ‘extremely hardcore’ work or get out
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

“Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore,” Musk wrote in the memo. Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade.”In the memo, Musk goes on to outline how Twitter will be “much more engineering-driven” and then gives staff an ultimatum. The email, with the subject line “A fork in the road,” comes as Musk has publicly and privately clashed with Twitter employees over his approach to running the company. It also comes after Musk pushed out Twitter’s top execs, eliminated the board of directors and laid off roughly half the staff. “Whatever decision you make,” Musk said in the memo, “thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful.”

The public termination came after Frohnhoefer tweeted evidence suggesting that Musk was “wrong” about his claims that Twitter was running, in the billionaire’s words, “super slow” in various countries. Sources have indicated to CNN that employees in recent days had been very candid in criticism of Musk in the company’s Slack. (CNN has attempted to contact fired employees to confirm.) In addition to the public pushback from employees, some Twitter staff appear to have tried to appeal to Musk and his inner circle privately as they weigh numerous disruptive changes to the platform. The paid subscription service was suspended on Friday with little warning.

☆ WATCH: CNN's Donie O'Sullivan clarifies viral video of Arizona election official explaining a voting machine problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Analysis: Midterm elections present a big test for newsrooms in the era of election lies and misinformation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —The first major test of the election denialism era has arrived. Tuesday’s midterms will be the first significant contest since conspiracy theories and lies about the US election process swallowed one of its two major parties whole. It’s difficult to put into words how dominant election lies are in the information universe in which Republicans almost exclusively get their news. There are different machines to cast and count ballots, there are different local election laws and procedures. Bad-faith media organizations and personalities, however, will exploit such situations to draw sweeping and incorrect conclusions that serve to benefit their political worldview.

☆ Kathy Griffin suspended from Twitter for impersonating Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Twitter has suspended comedian Kathy Griffin for impersonating the company’s new owner, Elon Musk. Musk has made an $8 Twitter subscription plan his signature bid to bolster the company’s revenue. Comedian Sarah Silverman used her verified account to troll Musk, copying his profile picture, cover image and name. “This will be clearly identified as a condition for signing up to Twitter Blue,” he tweeted. Musk mocked Griffin Sunday, quipping that “she was suspended for impersonating a comedian.” Musk also tweeted that Griffin could get her account back by paying $8 a month for Twitter Blue, although it wasn’t clear whether Musk was serious.

☆ Twitter delays $8 ‘blue check’ verification plan until after the midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Twitter is delaying the rollout of account verifications for its paid Twitter Blue subscription plan until after the midterm elections, a source with knowledge of the decision confirmed to CNN. A fresh Twitter account created by CNN that opted for the paid feature did not show the checkmark on its public profile. The decision to delay the rollout comes as the entire decision to charge users for verification has faced wide public backlash. Television actress Valerie Bertinelli similarly changed her account name to the Twitter CEO’s, tweeting Friday that “[t]he blue checkmark simply meant your identity was verified. Musk has also said he will limit the company’s content restrictions and require the paid subscription for account verification.

☆ Elon Musk’s Twitter informs staff layoffs are set to begin
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Donie O'Sullivan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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