Twitter condemned by UN and EU over reporters’ ban

[Mary Wilson]

2 hours ago
By Max Matza & Simon Read
BBC News

The United Nations has joined the European Union in condemning Twitter's decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm.

Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts.

The UN tweeted that media freedom is "not a toy" while the EU has threatened Twitter with sanctions.

A Twitter spokesman told a US tech news website the bans were related to the live sharing of location data.

Melissa Fleming, the UN's under secretary general for global communications, said she was "deeply disturbed" by reports that journalists were being "arbitrarily" suspended from Twitter.

"Media freedom is not a toy," she said. "A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation."

Earlier on Friday, EU commissioner Vera Jourova threatened Twitter with sanctions under Europe's new Digital Services Act which she said requires "the respect of media freedom and fundament rights".

"Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon," she added.

Mr Musk has not commented directly on the suspensions, but said in a tweet that "criticising me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not".

... A spokesman for the New York Times called the suspensions "questionable and unfortunate".

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... Twitter also suspended the official account of Mastodon, which has emerged as an alternative to Twitter since Mr Musk's takeover.

Links to individual Mastodon accounts also appeared to be banned. An error message notified users that links to Mastodon had been "identified" as "potentially harmful" by Twitter or its partners.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63996061

[sharon sanders]

This is no different than the flame wars of the early internet. Twitter is a private company and the owner can make these kinds of decisions. Twitter management has always made arbitrary suspend/ban decisions.

[Emily]

EU/UN should start their own chat platform. 'Hypocrisy' would be one good name for it. 'Drivel' is another.

[Emily]

Apparently there was no anti-doxxing rule at Twitter. Now there is.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64010202

Twitter reinstates banned journalists' accounts

• Published

55 minutes ago

By Alys Davies
BBC News

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk says several journalists he suspended from his social media company, Twitter, will have their accounts reinstated.

Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts, after Mr Musk accused them of sharing location data about him.

But amid mounting criticism, he asked Twitter users what to do next.

And 59% of the 3.6 million who took part voted to lift the ban immediately.

"The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," he tweeted.
...


However, one notable account, @ElonJet, remains suspended. The account's owner Jack Sweeney, 20, used publicly available flight-tracking information to tweet every time Mr Musk's jet took off and landed.

Mr Musk had blamed the account for an incident involving "a crazy stalker" who he said had accosted his son while travelling in a car.

On Thursday, Mr Musk said legal action was being taken against Mr Sweeney and others.

Twitter's privacy policy was also updated to say that users "may not publish or post other people's private information without their express authorization and permission"...