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.
Hours after the suspensions took hold, Musk faced off with one of the journalists he suspended in a Twitter Space audio discussion before an audience of more than 30,000 listeners.
The suspended journalist, along with several others, found a backdoor way onto the platform through the website’s audio function.
“You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That’s it,” Musk said, explaining his latest policy to the group, before he left minutes after having joined the discussion.
Musk was referring to Twitter’s latest rule change about accounts that track private jets, including one owned by Musk himself, which was put in place Wednesday.
The accounts of 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, Steve Herman of Voice of America and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster had all been suspended as of Thursday evening.
