Elon Musk’s Twitter ban of journalists riles lawmakers and draws State Department rebuke
The State Department took the unusual step Friday of joining the chorus of critics weighing in on Elon Musk’s snap decision to suspend the accounts of reporters and others who cover him — suggesting his actions are inconsistent with the principles of free speech.
Musk’s action on Thursday has opened a new front for complaints and concerns in Congress, the Biden administration and overseas about how he’s running one of the world’s most influential social media platforms.
Asked what message Musk’s suspensions send to other countries, Vedant Patel, a State Department deputy spokesman, said Friday that it was “difficult to square how these removals are consistent with promoting free exchange.”
“Social media companies make their own independent decisions about content moderation, and I’m not going to comment on their specific private actions,” he said. “But what I will say is this department’s support for free speech and freedom of the press is well documented.”
Patel’s criticism was a rare foray into the controversy for the Biden administration, which has largely declined to comment on Musk’s actions.
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Musk has suspended journalists from news organizations, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, who reported on the suspensions of a Twitter account tracking the location of his private jet and of accounts tracking other private jets.
He tweeted that the jet-tracking accounts had posted the equivalent of “assassination coordinates.” He polled his 121 million followers about how long the suspensions should last.
It’s not clear whether this latest controversy will provoke congressional action. But lawmakers in the House and Senate had already been considering calling on Musk to testify on a variety of issues in the new year.
The backlash against the multibillionaire has also spread among senior European lawmakers, with some threatening sanctions and others leaving the platform.
Musk’s move “only underscores the danger of his erratic leadership,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) said in a statement. “He should immediately reinstate the suspended journalists and provide clarity to Congress on the rash decision to ban them in the first place.“
“Musk’s willingness to tolerate hate and his intolerance for journalistic criticism make a mockery of his claims to support moderation or free speech,” Schiff added.
Some U.S. lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised concerns about Musk’s business ties to China as Tesla’s chief executive.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) asked Musk on Friday to respond to questions about how he is handling the threat of child exploitation, given staff cutbacks at Twitter.
And a GOP aide said the House’s incoming Republican majority is likely to ask Musk to testify about alleged anti-conservative bias at Twitter, his links to China and other topics.
Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) tweeted late Thursday that she had met with a Twitter representative who promised the company would not retaliate against tweets critical of the company.
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“What’s the deal, @elonmusk?” she tweeted.
Trahan hasn’t gotten a response, spokesperson Francis Grubar said.
Musk has responded to the controversy generally, tweeting that criticizing him is fine, “but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”
Republicans have generally applauded the changes Musk has made since taking over Twitter, where he has reinstated the accounts of former President Trump and other figures on the right. Democrats have been more wary of him loosening content moderation and restoring controversial accounts.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted some sympathy for Musk’s concerns about safety along with some advice: “Take a beat and lay off the proto-fascism. Maybe try putting down your phone.”
Musk tweeted back: “You first lol.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in additional tweets that her whereabouts have been posted on the platform and elsewhere.
“As someone who has been subject to real + dangerous plots, I do get it. I didn’t have security and have experienced many scary incidents,” she tweeted at Musk. “In fact, many of the right-wing outlets you now elevate published photos of my home, car, etc.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose personal account was suspended earlier this year — before Musk bought the company — for violating COVID-19 misinformation policies, criticized “political activists in the press” for complaining about bans while advocating that she and others be silenced.
Greene’s account was reinstated last month, and she tweeted Friday that she is “still against censorship” despite threats she has faced.
Democrats criticized Musk for enacting the bans while he claims to promote free speech.
“So much for this being about free speech,” tweeted Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, one of the Democrats who’ve criticized the suspensions as going against the principles Musk has espoused to explain why he spent $44 billion to buy the global network.
Heinrich, like Ocasio-Cortez, is among a number of prominent Democrats who bought emissions-free Tesla vehicles in recent years but have soured on Musk. The Tesla and now-Twitter CEO urged followers to vote for Republicans last year.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) also criticized Twitter for labeling all links to Mastodon, a social media service that has emerged as a rival to Twitter, as potentially malicious — including Beyer’s own congressional Mastodon account.
But another House Democrat, Eric Swalwell of Dublin, Calif., said it’s ultimately Musk’s call how to run Twitter.
“Twitter can suspend whoever it wants,” he tweeted. “It’s a private company. That’s how free markets work.”
Swalwell added that he was tired of those on the right who complained about Twitter’s rules before Musk took over.
“The alternative MAGA-whiners want,” he said, “is government control (Communism).”
