FALLOUT

Elon Musk Threatened by European Officials Over Journalist Twitter Bans

Reporters’ accounts were suspended after Musk accused them of doxxing.

European lawmakers have hit back at Elon Musk after Twitter suspended several journalists’ accounts after the arch-troll tech mogul accused them of putting him in danger. Reporters from the likes of CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and others had their accounts suspended Thursday after Musk accused them of “doxxing”—publicly sharing private information—through their coverage of Twitter’s ban of the @ElonJet account, which tracked the movements of his private jet. Musk claimed the banned accounts had risked putting him in harm’s way by providing “basically assassination coordinates,” but lawmakers in Europe have been alarmed by the reporters’ suspensions. “News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova tweeted Friday. “There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.” The German Foreign Ministry also expressed concerns about the platform. “#PressFreedom must not be switched on and off at will,” it tweeted. “As of today, the journalists listed below can also no longer follow, comment or criticize us. This means we have a problem @Twitter.”