UN 'deeply disturbed' by journalists' twitter suspensions

United Nations (UN) has shown support to European Union (EU) which has recently condemned Elon Musk's Twitter decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm, reported BBC.

The list of locked accounts included reporters for the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post. Further, this has been followed by a tweet by an under-secretary for global communications for the UN, Melissa Fleming who wrote, " Deeply disturbed by reports of journalists being arbitrarily suspended from Twitter. Media freedom is not a toy. A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation." 

Twitter bans journalists

One of the Twitter spokespersons has shared that the bans have been related to the live sharing of location data, reported BBC. On December 16, EU commissioner Vera Jourovahave threatened Twitter to impose sanctions under the new European Digital Services Act. Taking it to Twitter, Jourovahave wrote, "News about the arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct.@elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon." 

After the suspension of these accounts, there have been no comments by the CEO of Twitter. However, Musk has tweeted his concerns about safety and security. Looking at his recent tweets where he wrote, "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. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok."

In the continuing thread, Musk attached a video of the stalker who has been seen harassing the person sitting in the driver seat and he wrote, "Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood. Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family."

Later, the tech tycoon set up a poll question on Twitter where he asked if he should unsuspend the accounts "now" or "in seven days", suggesting the decision could be reversed sooner rather than later. The Poll question has been voted on by 535,233 and the option "Now" has won the majority by 43 per cent. So will Elon Musk unsuspend the accounts or not, as he has been using the Twitter platform for most of his important decisions?