UN and EU slam Elon Musk for suspending journalists from Twitter

 

The United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) slammed Elon Musk, Tesla and Twitter CEO, for suspending the accounts of half a dozen prominent journalists from Twitter.

Musk drew anger and sharp criticism from EU commissioner Vera Jourova over the suspension of journalists’ accounts. Jourova wrote on Twitter, "News about the arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying.” Jourova warned that Twitter could face hefty fines over this issue.

Twitter suspended the accounts of journalists from CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post without any warning. Musk accused the journalists of endangering his family by sharing his live location.

Jourova said, "Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.” She went on to slam Musk and the social media platform.

The spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres also slammed Musk and Twitter for suspending their accounts. Guterres called it an act of “dangerous precedent.” He added, “Journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse.”

On Wednesday, Twitter suspended @elonjet, an account that tracked flights of his private jet. Musk said that one of his children was followed by "a crazy stalker" because some journalists shared the live location of his private jet. Musk said that those reports amounted to "assassination coordinates" against him and his family.

He said, "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not."

The accounts of Ryan Mac, a New York Times tech reporter, Drew Harnell, The Washington Post tech reporter and O’Sullivan, a CNN reporter, were suspended from the social media platform. In recent months, they covered news stories on Twitter and Musk. They talked about Musk and the changes introduced on Twitter. Subsequently, The Committee to Protect Journalists slammed Musk and Twitter and called it a violation of journalists’ rights.