Despite Elon Musk’s accusations that the media revealed his movements, he has restored Twitter access to select journalists.
Upon Musk’s original decision, the journalists were suspended for seven days. Despite this, he made the decision to Twitter users after getting substantial criticism.
These journalists represented many outlets, including the liberal Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN.
During a 24-hour Twitter poll, Musk asked his fans whether they wanted the reporters returned “immediately” or in seven days.
Almost 3.7 million Twitter users polled favored reinstating the news reporters “immediately” (59% to 41%).
“We’ve heard from everyone who wanted to. Accounts that doxxed my address will be unbanned now that I’ve been located.” This past Friday night, Musk tweeted.
Earlier this week, in what has been dubbed the “Thursday Night Massacre,” Twitter permanently banned three users: CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, New York Times technology writer Ryan Mac, and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell.
First, Musk’s plane tracking account, @ElonJet, was deleted. The CEO said his account was terminated because it “doxxed real-time location data.”
Then, Musk issued a warning, “Any user who posts their real-time location in a doxxed post endangers the person’s physical safety and will be permanently banned. A good way to do this is to direct each other to websites that provide up-to-the-minute location data.”
All of the banned journalists had either reported about Elon Musk’s private jet being grounded or posted external links to monitoring data for @ElonJet.