EU Issues Threat to Elon Musk After Twitter Suspends Mainstream Journalists

Owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc. Elon Musk arrives at the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference in Manhattan in New York on Nov. 4, 2022. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The European Union on Friday warned Twitter owner CEO Elon Musk after the platform suspended several journalists for violating his new policy around doxxing.

Vera Jourova, a European Commission vice president, wrote on Twitter that the alleged “arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,“ adding that an EU regulatory act ”requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights.”

“This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that,“ Jourova wrote. “There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”

Jourova did not elaborate on what sanctions either Musk or Twitter will face. Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, which she cited, companies can be fined 6 percent of their global annual revenues for breaches.

Around the same time, France’s industry minister, Roland Lescure, wrote Friday that he would stop using his account. “Following the suspension of journalists’ accounts by @elonmusk, I am suspending all activity on @Twitter until further notice,” he wrote.

Musk, one of the world’s richest people, has not publicly responded to the EU’s warning by Friday. The Epoch Times has contacted Twitter for comment.

In November, EU regulators warned Musk that the social media platform could face a bloc-wide ban over its content moderation policies. A top official, Thierry Breton, met with Musk and demanded that Twitter adhere to EU rules around so-called hate speech and disinformation.

Journalists who were banned include New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, former Vox reporter Aaron Rupar, CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, and Mashable’s Matt Binder. Former ESPN and MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was also banned.

Earlier this week, Musk, the owner of Telsa, claimed on Twitter that a masked individual followed a vehicle his son was traveling in before announcing that people who share real-time information about a user’s location without their approval, or “doxxing,” would be banned.

“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk wrote.

It does not appear that those five accounts were permanently banned. Hours after the accounts were suspended, Musk posted a poll asking whether those accounts should be reinstated.

About 43 percent, or a plurality, said that they should be reinstated “now,” while about 38 percent said those accounts should come back “later.” Fifteen percent said it should be a seven-day ban, while 4.5 percent said Musk should restore the accounts in 24 hours.

Other Details

The sudden suspension of news reporters also followed Musk’s decision Wednesday to permanently suspend an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using publicly available data. That also led Twitter to change its rules for all users to prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent.

“You share the link to the real-time information, ban evasion, obviously,” Musk said in a Twitter Spaces event on Thursday evening. “Sharing real-time information about someone’s location is inappropriate and I think everyone on this call would not like that to be done to them,” Musk said.

“There’s not going to be any distinction in the future between journalists or so-called journalists and regular people,” Musk stated, adding, “Everyone’s going to be treated the same.”

The tech billionaire added, in response to several questions from journalists, that “you’re not special because you’re a journalist, you are just a user of Twitter [and a] citizen special treatment.”

The Washington Post’s executive editor, Sally Buzbee, called for technology reporter Drew Harwell’s Twitter account to be reinstated immediately. The suspension “directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech,” Buzbee wrote. “Harwell was banished without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his accurate reporting about Musk.”

And CNN said in a statement that “the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising.”

The network then said that it would “reevaluate our relationship” with Twitter based on Musk’s response.

Musk has served as Twitter’s chief executive since October after purchasing the company for $44 billion. Days after he bought the company, he reportedly terminated thousands of jobs and rolled back restrictions around speech, including the platform’s policies around COVID-19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.