With the blocking of journalist accounts, Elon Musk is causing global outrage - now the Twitter boss is rowing back after the majority of users voted in favor of the activation in a survey. But the political pressure was also enormous.
Twitter boss Elon Musk wants to lift the internationally criticized blocking of user accounts for several journalists. The billionaire and Tesla founder announced this in a tweet in response to a short-term poll on Twitter, in which 58.7 percent of the participants said they wanted the recently blocked accounts to be unlocked immediately. "People have spoken. The accounts that posted my location will now be unblocked," Musk tweeted.
Twitter on Thursday blocked the accounts of several US journalists who recently reported on Musk. Musk accused them of sharing the real-time location of his private jet in violation of the ban on sharing personal information, known as "doxxing." Such behavior endangers the safety of his family, Musk said. He accused the journalists of having provided the "coordinates for an assassination attempt" against him and his family.
Musk also explained that the blocking was necessary after a car with one of his children in the US metropolis of Los Angeles was pursued by a "crazy stalker". Musk did not provide any evidence for his claims. Critics suspected that the procedure was more an attempt to silence critical voices. Musk himself approached these doubts by tweeting, "If they get cheeky, they'll be disfellowshipped."
The EU Commission and the federal government had also clearly criticized the procedure and stated that they were considering the consequences out of concerns about freedom of the press. Criticism also came from the governments of France and Great Britain as well as from the United Nations (UN). According to a spokesman, UN Secretary-General António Guterres was "very disturbed" by the "arbitrary" step. This creates a "dangerous precedent".
Musk has wreaked havoc on Twitter since the $44 billion acquisition. He fired top management and around half the workforce and unlocked suspended accounts like that of former US President Donald Trump. Critics fear that under Musk's leadership, hate speech and misinformation could skyrocket on Twitter.
