Elon Musk Under Fire After X Apparently Purges Popular Left-Wing Critics: ‘Taking Off the Free Speech Mask’
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Elon Musk’s X/Twitter platform began suspending the accounts of prominent left-wing journalists and bloggers late on Monday night and into Tuesday.
Civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo began documenting the “massive purge” Tuesday morning and listed some of the major accounts that were suspended. Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, Steven Zetti (who writes under Steven Monacelli) of the Texas Observer, blogger Rob Rousseau, the account for TrueAnonPod podcast, and blogger Zei Squirrel were among those suspended.
Caraballo noted that most of those suspended are “shit posting accounts that were critical of Elon and Bill Ackman,” suggesting that Musk was silencing critics. Mediaite reached out to X for comment and received an automated reply that read, “Busy now, please check back later.”
In a statement to the Daily Dot, Zetti said he did not receive any explanation from X about the suspension. He added he has “written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months.”
The Texas Observer put out a statement on the suspension of its correspondent, writing on Threads, “ In Twitter/X news, our Special Investigative Correspondent @stevanzetti has been suspended with no warning or explanation, along with numerous other journalism accounts such as Ken Klippenstein, Rob Rousseau and others.”
There was a massive purge of journalists on Twitter. Steven Zetti of the Texas Observer and Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept. In addition, blogger Rob Rousseau, and podcast TrueAnonPod. pic.twitter.com/Vb5j5qY6gh
— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) January 9, 2024
The Observer also posted to X, writing, “Dear @elonmusk @Support, we’d like to know why our reporter, Steven Monacelli @stevanzetti was suspended from this platform.” The Observer, a sharp critic of Musk and X, also listed its other social media accounts and urged its readers to “follow us off of this hellsite.”
Remember, you can follow us off of this hellsite.
Try:
Facebook/Instagram: TexasObserver
Mastodon: @[email protected]
Threads: @TexasObserver
Bsky: @texasobserver.org— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) January 9, 2024
Observers were quick to note that many of the suspended accounts were not only critical of Musk, but also of U.S. foreign policy and Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Hard-left, anti-interventionist commentator Glenn Greenwald reacted to the suspensions, writing, “The account @Zei_squirrel was highly popular and polarizing. Its focus was on harshly criticizing US/EU foreign policy. That account survived the prior Twitter regime.Their recent focus has been on criticizing Israel and Ackman. Just got banned with no explanation, @ElonMusk.”
The account @Zei_squirrel was highly popular and polarizing. Its focus was on harshly criticizing US/EU foreign policy. That account survived the prior Twitter regime.
Their recent focus has been on criticizing Israel and Ackman. Just got banned with no explanation, @ElonMusk. https://t.co/7FQ7wKUVaB
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 9, 2024
Zei Squirrel reacted to the suspension on their Substack in a strongly worded and expletive-riddled statement:
I was just now in the middle of writing a thread about Bill Ackman’s depravity and lies, and I suddenly got a notice that I can no longer post because I am suspended. So I went to my email to check if there was any reason provided there, if any of my posts had been reported, and there’s nothing. I didn’t even have the opportunity to delete a post that supposedly infringes on Twitter’s rules. No, that cunt scumbag Elon Musk, likely at the behest of his buddy Bill Ackman who I have been embarrassing over the past few days, just banned me. No reason given. Not even an attempt to justify it. No, just suspended me because his billionaire buddy didn’t like my posts about him.
Musk bought Twitter in October of 2022 for $44 billion and vowed to make the platform a haven for free speech, declaring himself a “free speech absolutist.” In December of that year, Musk purged several high-profile journalists from the platform including, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, New York Times’s Ryan Mac, and The Intercept’s Micah Lee. After a fierce backlash Musk reinstated the accounts, which he claimed were boosting users trying to doxx him.
Here are some reactions to Musk’s latest apparent purge:
I remember the last time Elon Musk went on a journalist purge there were still enough active journalists on here to kick up a fuss and get a reversal, but this time there are actually simply so few people left using Twitter I’m not sure where the pressure would come from.
— Carl Kinsella (@TVsCarlKinsella) January 9, 2024
Ken Klippenstein is a journalist specialized in national security currently working at The Intercept
Steven Monacelli is Special Investigative Correspondent at the Texas Observer, whose recent articles covered the right wing in Texas (which the state which Elon Musk is resident) https://t.co/kXw5szQvdR
— Gustavo H. Acevedo (@GEHA714) January 9, 2024
Looks like @elonmusk is taking off the free speech mask https://t.co/9sD8j2rRo0
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) ?????? (@AdamKinzinger) January 9, 2024
UPDATE: Musk later addressed critics and wrote in reply to calls to reinstate accounts that he would investigate the suspensions. He later added, “We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them.” Many of the suspended accounts were reinstated on Tuesday.
Show me the Twitter Files on this one because I highly doubt that it’s a coincidence a number of high profile journalists were suspended all at once https://t.co/9d1sg6khgB
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) January 9, 2024
It appears that the reason I was unbanned is that Elon Musk responded to a post by Jackson Hinkle, a far-right influencer who regularly posts misinformation and conspiracy theories. This website is absolutely cooked. https://t.co/t7IOG5Rp7X
— steven monacelli (@stevanzetti) January 9, 2024
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