Elon Musk restores Twitter accounts of several prominent journalists after backlash

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Saturday reinstated the accounts of a number of prominent journalists that he had previously suspended from the social media platform.

Musk reactivated the journalist's accounts after conducting a Twitter poll to see if he should allow them back on the site immediately, or wait seven days. The poll overwhelmingly showed that respondents wanted the journalists reinstated right away.

"The people have spoken," Musk tweeted following the poll. Accounts ... will have their suspension lifted now."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

While a full list of the reinstated accounts was not released by Musk, journalists at a number of high-profile outlets, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and CNN were seen to have been reactivated, Reuters reported.

Musk had originally begun suspending accounts of journalists that he accused of "doxing" him — releasing personal information about his life and whereabouts. The accusations came after a number of news organizations published stories about @elonjet, a now-shuttered Twitter account that had tracked the movements of Musk's private plane.

However, as NBC News reported, the @elonjet account had only published flight data of where the plane landed, but did not track the occupants of the plane itself, and thus could not be used to track Musk or his children in real-time.

"None of the tweets from suspended reporters that the Post has reviewed revealed the location of Musk or his family," per The Washington Post.

The decision by Musk to suspend the accounts was criticized by both journalistic institutions and international organizations.