Twitter owner Elon Musk suspended and unsuspended numerous journalists who cover him, CNN reports.
Musk last week banned an account that used public information to track his private jet flights and other flight trackers on the platform. He then banned more than a half-dozen journalists who covered the report, including reporters from the New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN, claiming that they had shared links to the flight tracker, which some of them denied.
Musk held a poll asking whether he should unsuspend the journalists. Fifty-nine percent of respondents voted in favor of restoring their accounts.
The accounts were made viewable but twitter restricted the reporters from posting unless they removed the tweets that they claimed violated the network’s rules.
Some journalists agreed to comply while others appealed.
Reporters react:
Independent reporter Aaron Rupar said the move was a “clear illustration that it is no longer a rules-based company.”
"It's basically a company based on Elon Musk's whims and the terms of service depend on his mood each day,” he told NPR.
"It's funny that Elon suddenly has a problem with doxxing and harassing people because he has a history of doing that before people were paying such close attention to him," added Linette Lopez, an Insider reporter who was suspended.
Users want Musk to quit:
Musk on Sunday held a Twitter poll asking whether he should replace himself.
"Should I step down as head of Twitter?" he wrote. "I will abide by the results of this poll."
More than 57% of the 17.5 million users who participated voted in favor of Musk stepping aside.
Musk previously said that he does not plan to stay on as the CEO of Twitter forever.
"I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time," Musk said last month.
