Is Elon’s Attack On Journalists Right?

The last time we spoke about Elon Musk’s Twitter, it was just at the start of his journey to buy the social media platform. In my post, I literally asked Whats the worst that could happen?

In hindsight I regret even asking it. From the initial stories of staff being asked to sleep at their desks mid-transition, to flippantly firing staff that publicly call his knowledge into question. The new era of Twitter is upon us.

Quite possibly the worst and most recent story from the Musk-era is the suspension of several journalist accounts on the platform. There only “violation” was the fact they reported on musk. Just a few days later, the suspensions have been reversed and this news story might be considered old by many…but I don’t believe so. Even if Musk was condemned by the UN, shunned by some of Americas leading news outlets, and eventually crawled back into his corner. The so called champion of free speech is beginning to test the waters of what he can achieve on the platform. We shouldn’t brush instances like this under the rug and label it as a happy accident.

In a series of tweets, Musk wrote that publicly sharing his real-time location on Twitter was forbidden, and accused Journalists covering the ongoing legal action against the plane tracking account @ElonJet. Alleging that sharing any related information is the same as sharing “assassination coordinates”.

The accounts of several tech journalists from CNN, The Washington Post, Mashable, and the New York Times were suspended in quick succession on Thursday evening. All had recently shared articles containing publicly available data about the movements of the private jet. Each of these articles had highlighted the tension between Musk’s apparent commitment to free speech and his choice to ban an account he wasn’t a fan of.

The Washington Post said in a statement that the suspension of their technology reporter, Drew Harwell, “undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech”.

CNN said in its statement: “Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern to everyone who uses the platform.”

The Committee to Protect Journalists said that if individual’s bans were confirmed as retaliation for journalists’ work, it would be a serious violation of journalists right to report the news without fear of reprisal.

But, is it doxxing?

“Same doxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” he said in a tweet on Thursday. “They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates.”

The phrase “Doxxing” sticks out like a saw thumb in this, but is it a valid claim? Journalists have had a long and stick reputation with privacy over the past 30+ years, from cohering Diana to speak for Panorama, to hacking the phones of grieving parents. It’s an easy label to place on any journalist, and nobody can say there’s no ground to it. But on this occasion, it seems Musk is on his own when he claims to be doxxed.

The internet has made vast amounts of data public, from property records to family trees. Sometimes this accessible data empowers scammers and criminals. But there are limits to the value of data - it’s often outdated or false. And in the case of publicly available flight information, it only reveals the location of the aircraft, not it’s passengers.

While Twitter has abruptly changed its rules to prevent accounts from sharing live location details, it can’t stop the torrent of aviation hobbyists who track jets to post the information elsewhere.

What’s wrong with Elon Musk’s Twitter?

Regardless of what’s gone on up until this point. Elon’s era is reminding more of Trumps Twitter with every passing day. Sure, Trump never had a stake in Twitter, but the platform feels just as chaotic. There’s a hope that the scandals will start to slow and the already established CEO will begin to calm. But I’m not the most optimistic.

I imagine that in the not to near future, we’ll have another commentary on our hands.