On Thursday night, Twitter suspended the accounts of several high-profile journalists from major news organizations without explanation, in what could be seen as a significant attempt by new owner Elon Musk to exercise his unilateral authority over the platform.
The accounts belonging to CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell and other journalists who have aggressively covered Musk in recent weeks were abruptly and permanently suspended.
The account of progressive independent journalist Aaron Rupar was also suspended.
At the time of writing this entry, the platform has not explained why the journalists were “exiled” from the platform.
A A CNN spokesperson said the company has asked Twitter for an explanation and that it would “re-evaluate our relationship based on that response.”
“The impulsive and unwarranted suspension of several reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising. The increasing instability and volatility of Twitter should be an incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter,” the spokesperson said.
A New York Times spokesperson called the mass bans “questionable and unfortunate,” adding: “Neither The Times nor Ryan have received any explanation as to why this occurred. We hope that all journalists’ accounts will be restored and that Twitter will provide a satisfactory explanation for this action.”
The suspensions come after Twitter shut down an account belonging to Mastodon, an emerging competitor, also on Thursday.
The Mastodon account had tweeted earlier in the day that people could follow @ElonJet, the account that tracks Musk’s private plane on his platform, after the billionaire banned @ElonJet from Twitter on Wednesday.
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