‘Ban’: EU official warns Elon Musk against Twitter ban for journalists

New Delhi. Reacting strongly to Elon Musk’s decision to suspend journalists from Twitter, senior European politicians threatened future sanctions on the microblogging platform and EU MPs would quit the platform. In a tweet, the committee’s deputy chair, Vera Jourova, said: “Reports of arbitrary suspensions of journalists on Twitter are disturbing. That’s wrong. May ban soon.

In fact, Twitter CEO Elon Musk has suspended the accounts on the micro-blogging platform of more than half a dozen journalists from outlets including CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Along with that, defending his decision, Musk said, “Everyone is treated the same.” They’re not special just because you’re a journalist. He said: “It’s inappropriate to show real-time information about someone’s location and I don’t think everyone on this call would want it done for them.”

Jourova – one of the EU’s top civil servants – cited the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Freedom of the Media Act, two key pillars of EU tech regulation. The DSA – the EU’s content moderation regulation that will ban arbitrary account suspensions – has been legislated, but companies won’t begin the compliance process until the summer. Companies like Twitter will first have to report user numbers in the EU in February.

“Freedom of the press, an extremely valuable asset”
The German Foreign Ministry also expressed concern via Twitter. He said: “Freedom of the press should not be turned on and off at will. From today, journalists whose Twitter accounts have been banned… they too can no longer follow us, comment or criticize our publications. This means we have a problem with Twitter. “From our point of view, freedom of the press is an extremely valuable asset and must be defended whenever it is called into question,” said Christopher Berger, spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry.

“Violation of physical security”
Elon Musk suspended the accounts of reporters like CNN’s Donny O’Sullivan and The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell for covering Musk’s “exact real-time location.” He previously said that any accounts that dox an individual’s real-time location information would be suspended, as it is a breach of physical security.

“Doxing is a form of online harassment”
According to the report, Musk claimed that Elanjet-related reporting was doxing (publishing private and personal information, such as addresses or phone numbers) because it could provide live information about him and his family. Doxing is the act of revealing personal information online. This is a form of online harassment that involves publicly exposing someone’s real name, address, job, or other identifying information. Musk said, “You are just a citizen of Twitter. So no special treatment. You doc, you’re suspended, end of story.

Musk announced on Friday that Twitter accounts engaged in doxing would be temporarily suspended for seven days. He laughed after conducting a poll on the subject on his Twitter account and said, “7 day suspension for doxing. Staying away from Twitter for a while is good for the soul.

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Tags: Elon Musk, European Union, Twitter