By pushing the limits a little more each day, Elon Musk begins to ban on Twitter the accounts of journalists who follow his news closely. It even goes so far as to disable a flagship feature of the social network.
Is Elon Musk losing ground? In the past few hours, the billionaire has taken the decision to suspend the accounts of several American journalists (for the most part). This choice caused an incredible chain reaction on Twitter, while in parallel, its European alternative Mastodon has also just been ejected from the platform. Annoyed, Elon Musk even deactivated the Spaces feature to avoid being apostrophized.
The freedom of some ends where that of Elon Musk begins
All had more or less covered the famous affair of Elon Musk’s jet. Moreover, the account dedicated to its follow-up, @elonjet, was purely and simply suspended from Twitter, as was that of its creator, the young Jack Sweeney who had his wings cut off.
Among the journalists who have had their Twitter accounts suspended are Ryan Mac from New York Times ; Donie O’Sullivan of CNN ; Matt Binder from Mashable ; Drew Harwell of washington post ; or even Aaron Rupart and Tony Webster, renowned independent journalists across the Atlantic. Each time, the reason appearing on the accounts is the same: “ Twitter suspends accounts that violate Twitter rules. »
But what did they do to break the bluebird rules? These journalists have in common to have written on the takeover of Twitter. Some had also relayed information on the routes of the private jet of the new owner of the social network, without revealing the exact position of the aircraft, an important precision. But that obviously did not please the main interested party.
Spaces feature removed, European Commission threatens Musk with sanctions
On the night of Thursday to Friday, Elon Musk appeared in a Twitter Spaces, this functionality which allows to have live audio conversations, that anyone can join and listen to, and in which everyone can also participate.
Questioned on this Space (Space) by the journalist Drew Harwell, Elon Musk then let him know that he had not appreciated that he published private information about him before banishing him from Twitter in the process. We let you listen to the conversation, lunar, relayed by Bradley Eversley.
Even more surreal, Twitter (at the request of Elon Musk, we can easily guess) ejected all spectators from Space and then deactivated the Spaces functionality on the entire platform. At this time, no user has been able to access it again.
Elon Musk, who wrote a few hours ago that Twitter was ” in fire “, recalled being” okay “to be criticized” all day “. ” But revealing my location in real time and endangering my family is not acceptable. “, he added.
Concerns about the freedom of the press and more generally the freedom of expression once cherished by Elon Musk continue to grow. What is the future of the network in the short and medium term? The Vice-President of the European Commission, Vera Jourova, shares her fears this Friday and promises, in the name of the DSA (the Digital Services Act), sanctions against Elon Musk and Twitter, if they do not do not respect media freedom and fundamental rights.
Source : The Verge
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