Musk suspends reporters from Twitter for criticizing him. Here’s what you can do to protect free speech.
“Twitter Suspends Reporters From WashPost, NYT, Others Who Wrote About Elon Musk” – HuffPo
A billionaire who claims to be a champion of free speech, but suspends reporters who criticize him. The irony is rich.
- Who are the reporters Musk suspended?
- What did they write that might have upset the billionaire?
- How has Musk’s takeover of Twitter affected Tesla share price?
- What can you do to protect the freedom of speech?
Twitter suspends accounts of several journalists who had reported on Elon Musk
“Twitter suddenly suspended a host of prominent tech journalists, including many who reported about billionaire Elon Musk’s chaotic leadership at the social media giant in recent weeks. The accounts for The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, Mashable’s Matt Binder and independent journalist Aaron Rupar all disappeared Thursday evening, as did several others. All of those reporters have written about Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, the fallout after he laid off half of its employees.” – HuffPost
Many at CNN, Washington Post and the New York Times who had written critically of the new owner found their handles suspended – The Guardian
Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern to everyone who uses the platform. “Musk just seems to be stamping out accounts that he doesn’t like,” Donie O’Sullivan, one of the journalists whose account was abruptly suspended, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. – HuffPo
Elon Musk is harmful and dangerous to individuals and the world as a whole.H e derives most of his power from owning a large amount of Tesla, the only way to really reduce his power is to boycott Tesla. There are now 30 good electric car alternatives to Tesla, but there’s no good alternative to Twitter for human rights activists, journalists, democracy organizers and others working to improve the world. Thus it’s best to avoid killing it, so it can be sold to a white knight who will reverse the Musk changes. – Boycott Tesla
Many of the journalists Elon suspended are on #Mastodon
Follow and boost reporters on other platforms like Mastodon suggests Tiffany Li @tiffanycli@mastodon.social / tiffanycli@mastodon.social
- Drew Harwell, Washington Post @drewharwell
- Donie O’Sullivan, CNN @donieosullivan
- Steve Herman, VOA @w7voa
- Micah Lee, Intercept @micahflee
- Tony Webster @tony
- Matt Binder, Mashable @MattBinder
Protect free speech
Backup your Twitter account and tweets before your account is cancelled or suspended.
Boycott Tesla cars & dump it’s overvalued stock. This will hit the vile propagandist hard by lowering his wealth & squeezing him on the margin loan he used to buy Twitter. Drive him out by turning off the money he’s siphoned from the public. It’s the patriotic thing to do.— Tom Joseph (@TomJChicago) – Daily Dot
Dump Tesla stock. “My 2 cents: “The market voted today that the $TSLA brand has been negatively impacted by the Twitter drama. Where before EV buyers were proud to drive their Teslas to their friends or show off Teslas in their driveways, now the Twitter controversy is hurting Tesla’s brand equity.” Gary Black, another big Tesla investor and long-time Musk supporter- Twitter
Don’t advertise on Twitter
Advertisers continue to flee Twitter as civil rights groups call for a boycott. Elon Musk said the company has seen a “massive drop in revenue.”
The NAACP joined other civil rights groups in calling for an advertiser boycott of the platform. “It is immoral, dangerous, and highly destructive to our democracy for any advertiser to fund a platform that fuels hate speech, election denialism and conspiracy theories,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
“If Twitter does not take immediate concrete actions that illustrate a true commitment to maintaining best practices that protect users that companies then companies will not support with ad dollars and we’re seeing it happen in real time,” said GLAAD CEO Sarah Ellis. – Engadget
IPG, one of the world’s largest advertising companies, issued a recommendation on Monday through its media agencies for clients to temporarily pause their spending on Twitter because of moderation concerns, three people with knowledge of the communication said. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of platforms, advertisers and industry groups that is fighting harmful content on social media, also said this week that it was monitoring how Twitter planned to deal with content moderation. – NY Times
Take Away: Don’t let billionaires strangle freedom of speech and your ability to get the facts.
Deepak
DemLabs
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Reposted from Democracy Labs with permission.
