The arbitrary suspension of several American journalists by the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk has sparked an outcry from the international community.
Self-proclaimed defender of freedom of expression, the billionaire is exposed to sanctions from the European Union.
Describing this decision as “worrying”, the vice-president of the European Commission Vera Jourova recalled that there are “red lines”, threatening Elon Musk with next “sanctions” in a tweet.
News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying.
EU's Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights.
This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct.
@elonmusk should be aware of that.
There are red lines.
And sanctions, soon.
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) December 16, 2022
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On Thursday, a dozen American journalists were suspended from the social network.
Among them are media workers like CNN (Donie O'Sullivan), the New York Times (Ryan Mac), the Washington Post (Drew Harwell) and independent journalists.
Some had tweeted about Twitter's decision on Wednesday to suspend the account that automatically reported Elon Musk's private jet rides.
Twitter did not say why these accounts were suspended, or how long they were suspended.
A seven-day temporary suspension
The owner of the social network, a source of much controversy since he bought it in October, however gave some indications in a flurry of tweets posted overnight from Thursday to Friday.
“Accounts involved in doxing receive a seven-day temporary suspension,” Elon Musk tweeted, indicating that these rules applied “to 'journalists' like anyone else”.
The term "doxing" means publicly disclosing personal information about an individual on the Internet without their consent.
“They posted my exact geographic location in real time, that is to say literally the coordinates allowing an assassination, in direct (and obvious) violation of the conditions of use of Twitter”, also assured Elon Musk.
our file on elon musk
"The impulsive and unwarranted suspension of a number of reporters like CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is disturbing but not surprising," CNN said in a statement.
“We hope that the accounts of all these journalists will be restored and that Twitter will provide a satisfactory explanation,” said
New York Times
spokesman Charlie Stadtlander.
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