Elon Musk’s Twitter Poll Over Journalists’ Suspension: Here’s The Result

Elon Musk said it’s “inspiring to see the newfound love of freedom of speech by the press”. (File)

Elon Musk today chose reply with sarcasm to criticism for suspending half a dozen journalists from Twitter. Days after several journalists from prominent organisations like CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post lost access to their accounts without any warning, Musk tweeted about the “freedom of speech” of the press.

So inspiring to see the newfound love of freedom of speech by the press 🥰

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

“So inspiring to see the newfound love of freedom of speech by the press,” tweeted the once wealthiest man of the world.

Musk, who acquired Twitter in October and took it private, accused the journalists of endangering his family. What sparked this latest controversy was the suspension of an account that tracked his private jet. The move was necessary after “a crazy stalker” followed a car carrying one of his children in Los Angeles, said Musk who seemed to put the blame on the account tracking his jet.

Some of the journalists had reported on suspension of the jet tracker, which Musk said was “assassination coordinates” for his family, but provided no evidence for his claim.

“Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone travelled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok,” he said yesterday.

Interestingly, Musk tweeted a poll asking users whether to “unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time.” The winning option is “Now” with 43 per cent votes.

Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

Given that Musk had revived the suspended accounts of former US President Donald Trump and others after a similar poll, any further development on the suspension of journalists is awaited.

“If anyone posted real-time locations and addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there’d be hearings on Capitol Hill & Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!” tweeted the billionaire again, replying to the poll.

Twitter recently unveiled a policy update prohibiting the sharing of live location information.

Musk this week lost the top spot on global rich list to Bernard Arnault, the chief executive of luxury brand Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH. This, after he sold Tesla shares worth $3.6 billion. He has so far raised $20 billion selling his shares in his electric vehicle firm.

Twitter is also looking for new equity investors, latest reports suggest.