TWITTER has restored the accounts of suspended media practitioners after polls where majority voted in support of the motion.
The poll results which had to be repeated revealed that 59 per cent of 3.6 million Twitter users voted for the immediate restoration of suspended jounalists’ accounts.
In a post, Elon Musk said “the people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now”.
The people have spoken.
Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now. https://t.co/MFdXbEQFCe
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2022
The Chief Twit had alleged that some journalists had infringed on his privacy via doxxing. As a result, the journalists’ accounts were banned.
Twitter also reinstated the spaces feature which had been shut down just before banning the journalists who hosted a space Musk angrily stormed out of.
In a tweet he announced, “space is back”.
Spaces is back
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
Although the journalists claimed to have only reported on the jet tracking account @elonjet, criticisms from media organizations, and other authorities have raised the concern that Twitter may be undermining press freedom.
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW) in a official statement condemned Twitter’s actions.
The group said Twitter’s action “violates the spirit of the First Amendment and the principle that social media platforms will allow the unfiltered distribution of information that is already in the public square”
The United Nations Under Secretary for Global Communications Melissa Fleming tweeted that media freedom should not be toyed with, noting that a free press is the cornerstone of democracy.
Deeply disturbed by reports of journalists being arbitrarily suspended from Twitter.
Media freedom is not a toy. A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation.
— Melissa Fleming 🇺🇳 (@MelissaFleming) December 16, 2022
European Union Commissioner for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova sanctioned Twitter with Europe’s new Digital Services Act which entails “the respect of media freedom and fundament rights”.
The German foreign office, French minister of industry and other prominent bodies also condemned Twitter’s actions.
The owner of the microblogging site, Musk, keeps making impulsive changes to Twitter’s moderation policies.
Tech Journalist Kara Swisher who has been covering Musk for more than two decades told the PBS news her concerns.
Swisher said regulating Twitter in America would be difficult because of the First Amendment but in Europe there are different rules that come to play.
She added that “it’s about the whims of the richest man in the world and what he feels like doing on any given day”.
