Elon Musk faced growing backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic on Friday, with threats of fines and sanctions, after Twitter suspended the accounts of at least eight journalists without warning on Thursday.
Among the suspended accounts were those of The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, and The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell. It was unclear what the suspensions had in common.
Muting prominent voices could increase regulatory pressure on Twitter, and potentially on Mr Musk’s other companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, which are major recipients of government funding and projects. It could also harm its efforts to get unwilling advertisers back on the platform.
The move sparked a wave of protests. News organizations, including The Times and CNN, have demanded that Musk explain his rationale. Supporters of the journalists argued on Twitter that the move was overly punitive.
Legislators in the European Union can go on the offensive. Vera Jourova, Vice President of the European Commission, said the move violated the EU’s digital services law and media freedom law.
“There are red lines. And soon sanctions,” she tweeted Friday morning.
The recently ratified Digital Services Act serves as a sort of content moderation rulebook for companies operating in the block. It takes effect next year and carries a fine of 6 percent of global sales for companies that break the rules.
Representative Lori Trahan, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the House of Representatives Committee on Electronic Communications and the Internet, also expressed dismay at Twitter’s action. She tweeted on Thursday that she had received assurances from the company this week that it had no intention of retaliating against journalists or independent researchers who critically report Mr Musk and Twitter.
“Less than 12 hours later, multiple technology reporters have been suspended. What’s going on, @elonmusk?” she wrote.
The moves came a day after Twitter suspended more than two dozen other accounts, including one belonging to Jack Sweeney, the 20-year-old college student behind @elonjet, who tracked the movements of Mr. Musk’s private jet. Each of the suspended journalists had written or tweeted about the plane tracking account.
The billionaire tech tycoon, who described himself as a free speech absolutist, introduced another red line this week after claiming that a car containing one of his children was accosted by a “mad stalker.” The rule: Any Twitter user who posts someone else’s live location or other personal information — an act known as doxxing — will be taken offline.
In a Twitter Spaces discussion, Mr. Musk defended the decision to block the journalists. “You doxx, you’re being suspended, end of story,” he said, then abruptly left the conversation.
It is unclear how long the suspensions will last. On Friday, Mr. Musk interrogated his 121 million followers, and asked them to vote when accounts that shared his location should be reinstated. As of 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, nearly 60 percent had voted “now.” (The poll will run for another 14 hours.)
