“The people have spoken,” Musk tweeted. “Accounts that duplicated my location will be lifted now.”
The removal of the accounts prompted BuzzFeed News journalist Katie Notopoulos to start a Twitter space titled “#saveryanmac #macpack” in reference to former BuzzFeed News reporter and current New York Times reporter Ryan Mac. More than two Hours after Space began, Musk joined the live discussion and tried to explain the reason behind the suspensions before fleeing when reporters tried to question him about the decision.
The embattled new CEO of Twitter claimed the journalists in question had misled him by linking him to @ElonJet in their reporting. Doxxing is when private and personal information is posted, such as addresses or phone numbers.
In a heated exchange, Notopolous clarified that the reporters had simply reported on the account, but Musk said that posting links to the information constituted “circumvention of the ban.”
“You are just a citizen of Twitter. So there is no special treatment,” she said. “You dox, you get suspended, end of story.”
As of Saturday morning, most of the journalists who had been suspended from the platform had their accounts reinstated. However, Business Insider’s Linette Lopez, who has written research on Musk’s electric car company Tesla, and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, remained suspended.
