The saga between Elon Musk and Twitter continues, with the social network's new owner stating late on Friday night that he would reinstate the accounts of several American journalists on the social network after causing an uproar by suspending them.
"People have spoken. The accounts that published my location will have their suspensions lifted,” tweeted the billionaire, who had been threatened with sanctions by the European Union on Friday. The UN had denounced “a dangerous precedent” with the suspensions.
Musk had launched a poll on Twitter to ask whether he should restore the suspended accounts immediately or in a week’s time. Nearly 59% of the 3.69 million people who responded said he should restore them immediately.
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A dozen American journalists have been suspended from the social network. They include employees of media outlets such as CNN (Donie O’Sullivan), the New York Times (Ryan Mac), the Washington Post (Drew Harwell) and freelance journalists. Some had tweeted about Twitter’s decision on Wednesday to suspend the account that automatically reported on Elon Musk’s private jet journeys.
Musk accused them of endangering his safety and that of his family. He had claimed in a tweet on Wednesday that a vehicle with one of his children on board had been followed in Los Angeles by “a crazy stalker”, appearing to create a causal link with the real-time positioning of his jet.