UPDATE: Friday, Dec 16, 2022 · 3:33:44 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Musk is now claiming that the journalists involved “posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates.” Besides being bizarre in a number of ways, this is also simply a lie. Not one of the journalists banned did any such thing, or anything close to it.
UPDATE: Friday, Dec 16, 2022 · 3:02:50 AM +00:00 · Mark Sumner
Twitter — and supporters of Musk — are now trying to pass off the growing list of bans as bans for “doxing.” But absolutely none of the posts in question appear to provide anything that constitutes any violation of Twitter rules.
This is the last tweet from CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan. It contains only a public statement from the LAPD on top of the information that Musk himself tweeted.
Campaign Action
Who will rid Elon Musk of these meddlesome journalists? Apparently whatever remains of a technical team at Twitter is more than willing to pull the switch for the boss.
On Thursday night, Twitter—abruptly, and without notice or warning—began banning or permanently suspending the accounts of journalists. Those known to be affected so far span a wide variety of leading media platforms, including CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, as well as online platforms like substack. All that these writers appear to have in common is that they recently reported on stories connected to Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Some of those banned had connections with the story of the “@ElonJet” account, which Twitter banned for publishing public information about the flight schedules of Elon’s personal jet. Others reported on a post that Musk himself made earlier in the day in which he claimed that a stalker had pursued a car that he owned, believing that he was inside. Some of those banned did nothing but report on the banning of other journalist.
Those banned include such well known Twitter journalists as Aaron Rupar, and the former sportscaster and political commentator Keith Olbermann. What happens now is up to the chaos agent who has took over one of the largest media platforms in the world claiming he was a “free speech purist.”
As of of 9:30 PM Eastern, the number of journalists affected by the purge continued to grow.
The full list includes:
Aaron Rupar: Substack author and popular Twitter presence whose account was taken down for reasons unknown.
Drew Harwell: Washington Post technology reporter. Reason unknown.
Ryan Mac: New York Times technology reporter. Recently posted concerning the ElonJet story.
Donie O’Sullivan: CNN reporter. Last post was a story about Elon’s claim that a “crazy stalker” had followed a car in which his son was a passenger.
Matt Binder: Mashable reporter. Final post was noting O’Sullivan’s suspension.
Tony Webster: independent journalist.
Micah Lee: Intercept reporter.
Steve Herman: Voice of America reporter.
Keith Olbermann: former MSNBC host and sports journalist. Last post was retweeting those of suspended journalists.
Earlier in the day, Twitter also suspended links from the Mastodon social media site. Now users who include Mastodon links within a Twitter post are getting a warning message that prevents the post from appearing directly on Twitter.
CNN has issued a response to O’Sullivan’s suspension.
Well, that was an awesome way to finish out the 2022 election cycle! Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard revel in Raphael Warnock's runoff victory on this week's episode of The Downballot and take a deep dive into how it all came together. The Davids dig into the turnout shift between the first and second rounds of voting, what the demographic trends in the metro Atlanta area mean for Republicans, and why Democrats can trace their recent success in Georgia back to a race they lost: the famous Jon Ossoff special election in 2017.
We're also joined by one of our very favorite people, Daily Kos Elections alum Matt Booker, who shares his thoughts on the midterms and tells us about his work these days as a pollster. Matt explains some of the key ways in which private polling differs from public data; how the client surveys he was privy to did not foretell a red wave; and the mechanics of how researchers put together focus groups. Matt also reminisces about his time at "DKE University" and how his experience with us prepared him for the broader world of politics.