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Twitter suspended accounts of rival social media platform Mastodon late Thursday and several journalists reporting on Twitter’s new administration, despite Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk promising to take an intrusive approach to moderating the social network. took. .
Twitter suspended the account of rival platform Mastodon on Thursday evening. (Photo: JOEL … [+]
important facts
The @joinmastodon profile, which has more than 100,000 followers as of Sunday and is listed as a Twitter account on Mastodon’s website, appeared on Thursday with a note saying “Account suspended,” but Twitter did not make it clear what rule the account was breaking.
Mastodon earlier Day tweeted a link to an account on his platform that tracked the location of Musk’s jet, just a day after a similar account was banned from Twitter.
Musk announced the new rules on Twitter chirp Wednesday evening after the jet tracker was banned: “As a physical security breach, any account that discloses anyone’s real-time location will be suspended. This includes linking to sites with real-time location information.”
A number of tech reporters and critics of Musk were also kicked off Twitter on Thursday evening. Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, CNN’s Ryan Mac New York TimesIntercept staffer Micah Lee, Mashable’s Matt Binder, writer Aaron Rupar and former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann.
It’s unclear why Twitter is banning journalists, but a few seen tweeting about the Musk jet tracker – or Musk in general – just before the suspension.
Musk responded to the bans on Thursday evening as follows: tweeting“The same rules of doxxing apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else.”
Neither Mastodon nor Twitter immediately respond to requests for comment. forbes.
Key Background
Musk promised to allow all conversations permitted by law on Twitter before finalizing his $44 billion deal to buy the company. Shortly after Musk took over Twitter, he was noted for reinstating former President Donald Trump and several other high-profile conservative figures, but many of Musk’s other recent actions have not lived up to that ideal. The account that followed his jet shared public information, and Musk too tweeted last month she let her stay online: “My commitment to freedom of expression extends to not banning the account after my flight, even though it’s a direct personal security risk.” The billionaire has repeatedly said that over the past few days the account has threatened his family, and vowed to take legal action against the 20-year-old University of Central Florida student who ran the account. The account seems to have been bugging Musk for at least a year: late last year, Musk offered the account’s operator $5,000 to stop tracking his jet, according to CNN.
Tangent
Mastodon was launched in 2016, but gained wide attention after Musk bought it as a potential alternative for those leaving Twitter, particularly users on the political left. Mastodon’s network uses a completely different model than Twitter’s, as users sign up on different servers that basically run as their own community. The process has caused widespread complaints of confusion among many new users.
further reading
Mastodon Can’t Replace Twitter – But Has Its Own Rewards (Forbes)
Twitter Suspends Account Following Elon Musk’s Private Jet (Forbes)
