Twitter CEO Elon Musk publicly defended his social-media platform suspending the accounts of several journalists, saying they had violated rules against “doxxing.”
Mr. Musk took to Twitter after several news outlets began reporting on the bans to state that they were not because the journalists, who all covered him and Twitter, had criticized him but that the platform had rules against stalking people.
“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” he wrote in a reply to one user.
The suspended journalists, who all lost access to their accounts Thursday night, included Donie O’Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Ryan Mac of the New York Times and independent journalist Aaron Rupar.
Another user, looking the suspended accounts said he had “been able to confirm about half the accounts suspended” had posted links that had enabled people to track Mr. Musk’s jet “in violation of the new doxxing policy. Unclear just yet about the rest, but I think it’s safe to say the rule is for real.”
Mr. Musk basically confirmed that this was the reason in his reply.
“Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” he wrote.