CNN Journalist Laments Being Kicked Off Twitter By Musk

CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan lamented being banned from Twitter on Friday.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk suspended the accounts of several left-leaning journalists — including The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, the Independent’s Micah Lee — for allegedly violating Twitter’s policy preventing users from sharing location information. The move came hours after Musk suspended an account he said was tracking the location of his private jet.

Musk said the suspended users had “doxxed [his] exact location in real-time.” Harwell said during a live Twitter Spaces chat that he didn’t necessarily doxx Musk, but that “in the course of reporting about ElonJet, we posted links to ElonJet.”

O’Sullivan said that while he’s lucky enough to have other outlets to share his reporting, Musk’s decision could hurt independent journalists. (RELATED: Elon Musk Told Bari Weiss He Was Worried About The ‘Future Of Civilization’ Before ‘Twitter Files’ Release)

“I think one thing that is really important to stress here is I have a platform, I’m on CNN with you guys right now. We are in the privileged position, really, as journalists where if we want to quit Twitter, we’re still going to be able to report and do our jobs. For a lot of independent freelance journalists around the world, you know, the reality is they have to be on Twitter because that is where editors and publishers will see their work and might hire them.”

“I worry about the chilling effect that this might have on those reporters, particularly when you think that Musk also owns these other companies, Tesla and SpaceX. What if you’re in Germany or elsewhere and you’re reporting on maybe poor working conditions?” O’Sullivan continued. “Is he just going to come and just stamp you down because he says that’s against the rules?”