Elon Musk suggests journalists want to cause harm to him and his family after restoring suspended Twitter accounts
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- Elon Musk lifted a suspension on Twitter accounts after a poll answered by 3.1 million people.
- Musk had banned journalists after he accused them of "doxxing" him.
- He agreed with a user who said journalists wanted to cause him and his family harm or harassment.
Elon Musk suggested the was "no other reason" journalists had for allegedly "doxxing" him than as an attempt to cause harm to him and his family, moments after restoring some blocked Twitter accounts.
The billionaire returned access to the accounts of several journalists Friday night after accusing them of "doxxing" him — the act of publicly providing identifiable information about someone — by sharing his live location by posting about the ElonJet website, which tracks his private jet's movements.
But shortly after lifting the suspension, Musk replied to a tweet from a user who wrote: "The only reason these so-called journalists would want to dox @elonmusk real time location - is because they want him and his family harassed or harmed," adding a political message that the left use violence when they "don't get their way."
Musk replied: "Indeed, there is no other reason."
The u-turn followed a Twitter poll where Musk asked when he should reinstate "accounts that doxxed my location in real-time," giving users a choice between "Now" and "In 7 days."
After 3.1 million votes, 58.7% of users voted in favor of lifting the suspension, compared with 41.3% who voted for it being lifted in seven days' time.
Musk banned the accounts of journalists including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, the Washington Post's Drew Harwell, and Ryan Mac from the New York Times.
The reporters were suspended on Thursday for reporting on the Wednesday suspension of Jack Sweeney's account, the student who gained notoriety for posting the real-time location of Elon Musk's private jet.
The journalists made reference to Sweeney's @ElonJet account, but didn't make reference to Musk's location in their reporting. Post reporter Harwell had criticized Elon Musk's highly publicized commitment to free speech in his final tweet before being suspended.
Musk has been engaged in a tug-of-war with mainstream news outlets since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter. Prior to the lifting of suspensions, Musk tweeted: "So inspiring to see the newfound love of freedom of speech by the press."