Musk lifts suspension of accounts that doxxed his real-time location after Twitter poll

After abruptly suspending the accounts of multiple journalists on Twitter, CEO Elon Musk backtracked the move and lifted the suspension following the results of a poll that he had set up on his official account. "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," Musk tweeted on Saturday. 

A day before, he had uploaded the 24-hr poll to ask users if he should “Unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time.” While 58.7% of users voted for ‘Now’, the remaining 41.3% voted for the ‘In 7 days’ option. In a previous poll on Thursday, the Twitter boss had asked the same question, along with options like "now,” "tomorrow," "in 7 days," and "longer.” However, he quickly dismissed the poll after stating that it had "too many options.”

Musk reversing the suspension of journalists and people who shared his real-time location comes after several prominent news figures like New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan and Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell were permanently stripped of their verified accounts following a recent incident that made Musk introspect about his personal safety. 

What triggered Musk's Twitter suspension spree? 

Earlier this week, Elon Musk permanently banned ElonJet, an account operated by 20-year-old Jack Sweeney, which tracked the real-time flight data of Musk’s private airplane. He later uploaded a clip of a "crazy stalker" who had followed his son and jumped on the hood of his vehicle.

"Last night, car carrying [his son] lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving and climbed onto hood. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organisations who supported harm to my family,” Musk said in a tweet. 

He then announced that Twitter will be suspending any account that uploads the “real-time location” of any individual as the act is a direct violation of physical safety. “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info,” Musk wrote on Twitter, clarifying that “Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.”