Irish CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan said it was “rich and ironic” for self-professed free speech absolutist Elon Musk to be shutting down journalists after his Twitter account was suspended.
O’Sullivan was one of a handful of reporters covering Musk, the controversial owner of Twitter, who had their accounts on the social media platform suspended on Thursday night.
Prior to the banning of his account, the CNN reporter, who is originally from Cahersiveen in Co Kerry, had been reporting on the suspension of the @ElonJet Twitter account that tracked the movement of Musk’s private jet from flight tracking information that is publicly available.
The billionaire introduced new rules on the platform banning private jet trackers and said that the same rules apply to journalists, including reporters at The New York Times and the Washington Post, who were covering the story about the private jet tracking ban.
“Criticising me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk said in a tweet.
Doxxing refers to the release of private information about individuals online, often with malicious intent.
After suspending the accounts belonging to O’Sullivan and eight other journalists, Musk tweeted that the banned accounts had posted about “my exact real-time location, basically assassination co-ordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.”
Speaking to The Irish Times, O’Sullivan, who had 287,700 followers on his Twitter account, rejected Musk’s claim as “simply false” and expressed concern about the impact of Musk’s decision on other journalists who cover the billionaire’s various business interests.
‘”It is obviously a bit rich for a so-called are free speech absolutist, as Musk portrays himself, to be going off suspending a bunch of journalists who cover him critically but cover him fairly. I think it sets a potentially dangerous precedent for speech on Twitter,” he said.
The Kerry reporter, who is based in New York, said he had a high-profile platform on the CNN television network on other social media platforms but other reporters relied on Twitter for work.
“I would be more concerned about freelance and independent reporters from around the world, particularly those who might be covering some of Musk’s businesses and business dealings, whether it is in China or at his Tesla or SpaceX factories,” he said.
“I have the privilege where I don’t necessarily need to be on Twitter. For a lot of reporters, they have to be because that is how they get their work out there and how they get their assignments.”
O’Sullivan said he first learned that his Twitter account had been suspended when his colleague, CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy, texted him as O’Sullivan was leaving his apartment in New York to appear on CNN’s evening television programmed hosted by Anderson Cooper.
“It is important to point out here that Musk is claiming that the journalists he suspended shared the exact live co-ordinates of his location and that could get him assassinated. That just simply is false,” he said.
O’Sullivan said that just last month Musk, who bought Twitter in a €44 billion deal in October, vowed to leave the @ElonJet account on the platform as part of his “commitment to free speech.”
On Wednesday, the Irish journalist reported on the suspension of the account run by Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old Florida student using public flight information to build an automated Twitter account that tweeted every time Musk’s Gulfstream jet took off and landed at an airport.
O’Sullivan said that in reporting on the suspension, CNN was highlighting Musk’s “hypocrisy” after he had previously said that he would keep the account on the platform, even though he thought it was dangerous, because he was “so committed to free speech.”
“Twitter is a private company. They can do whatever they want. They kicked off Trump. They kicked off other people,” said the Irish journalist.
“It is quite rich and ironic for the billionaire to say he is a free speech guy to be shutting down journalists who are critical of him.”
O’Sullivan pointed out that the publicly available information on the ElonJet account was still live on other social media platforms.
“If I had a private jet, I wouldn’t love the idea of this high-profile account, ElonJet, tweeting out my location but the reality is flight traffic information is public in the United States,” he said.
The Kerry journalist said that it “remains to be seen” whether Musk’s suspension of Twitter accounts would have a chill effect on other media.
“I certainly think that it is giving us pause to say why are we relying so much on this platform that is now controlled by a person who seems to be acting a lot on a whim,” he said.
O’Sullivan said CNN and all his bosses at the TV network have been “extremely supportive” and that he was reassured to be working in an organisation “where the bosses have your back.”
He said he was also “heartened and warmed” by all the messages of support from Ireland in the wake of the suspension of his account, including his local St Mary’s GAA club in Cahersiveen which posted a “#JusticeForDonie” montage of humorous, supportive Irish tweets on Facebook.
“Once again, Irish Twitter is bringing a bit of levity to this situation, which is nice to see,” he said. “I spoke to my Mom this morning: she was as surprised by it but not much fazes her.”
