Elon Musk terms Twitter suspension of major news publication as 'incredibly inappropriate'

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday, April 26 lambasted microblogging platform Twitter for banning the news publication’s account that reported what he described as “a truthful story". Musk stated that it was “incredibly inappropriate” for the social media platform to block the American based news site that published a story in 2020 about US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden. The story carried details about Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings ahead of the 2020 presidential election. 

“Suspending the Twitter account of a major news organisation for publishing a truthful story was obviously incredibly inappropriate,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a tweet. 

Musk bashed Twitter's censorship after claims that Twitter's top lawyer 'was in tears' over new ownership 

Musk had responded to reporter Saagar Enjeti’s tweet, sharing a Politico article that cited how the social media company’s top lawyer “was in tears” when discussing Twitter’s new ownership. “Vijaya Gadde, the top censorship advocate at Twitter who famously gaslit the world on Joe Rogan’s podcast and censored the Hunter Biden laptop story, is very upset about the Elon Musk’s takeover,” Enjeti said. The Republican National Committee accused Twitter of stifling the freedom of expression and cracking down on the news organisations. 

Musk then responded saying that the platform had exploited power by blocking freedom of speech, citing a New York Post article that exposed thousands of emails detailing how the then-presidential candidate’s son used his political influence to strike offshore business dealings in China and Ukraine. The news publication cited a trove of data obtained from the laptop of Hunter Biden, and Twitter justified the censorship by saying that the investigative coverage carried “content obtained through hacking that contains private information.” “The images contained in the articles include personal and private information — like email addresses and phone numbers — which violate our rules,” the company had tweeted.

Hunter Biden and his business dealings later went on to become the “central target” of the investigative and oversight committee with messages and financial transactions analysed from the same laptop. Biden’s son’s taxes and foreign business are under federal investigation, particularly his membership on the board of a Ukrainian energy company and his efforts to strike deals in China that have raised speculations that he used his father’s public service as leverage as being reported from the references in his emails.