Twitter’s Suspension of Journalists Sets ‘Dangerous Precedent’ – UN Warns | Hacker News Reader

Twitter’s Suspension of Journalists Sets ‘Dangerous Precedent’ – UN Warns

theguardian.com

23 pointsTrouble_00712 comments

It's as if the persecution of journalists is a new thing..

If Musk doesn't grow a spine and stop behaving like a petulant child there are other places journalists can go. But I think Twitter would learn that they were a driver for why many chose to use their product.

I don't think that there is any journalist out there that has not clearly seen the writing on the wall. You can no longer write about Musk, Tesla, Twitter or SpaceX without the threat of a ban hanging over you. Given that this is their work they will collectively move off Twitter and take their audience with them, it is mostly a matter of time now and finding a consensus about what the next best thing is.

Musk held a Twitter poll to see if those accounts should be un-suspended:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1603600001057185792

He didn't like the results of that poll, so he held a second poll:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1603609466301059073

And I imagine he likes those results even less.

But, by the standard he set himself, he needs to unban the accounts now.

Some of those journalists accounts are now un-suspended. e.g. https://twitter.com/drewharwell, https://twitter.com/RMac18, https://twitter.com/donie

Micah Lee's is not (https://theintercept.com/2022/12/16/elon-musk-twitter-suspen...): https://twitter.com/micahflee

And Jack Sweeney's personal account and ElonJet are not: https://twitter.com/JxckSweeney, https://twitter.com/ElonJet

Edit: Micah Lee is now unbanned too.

What happens after a ridiculous suspension is really irrelevant because the main concern is about the actions taken that don't receive public attention and scrutiny.

The UN, like world governments and agencies, relies heavily on journalists to propagate propaganda. You can clearly see how threatened legacy media is by Twitter being wrestled from their control. Hardly anyone buys newspaper anymore. Facebook is a dud. Twitter was never great but was, apparently, an essential tool for the mainstream media.

A lot of masks are coming off. It’s starting to get pretty interesting.

> Barely no one buys newspaper anymore.

So.. everyone buys newspapers?

> A lot of masks are coming off.

The only mask that's come off is Musk's false commitment to free speech and good governance of Twitter. He's plainly not interested in either.

But it was always going to be this way. Musk is an authoritarian at heart. He simply can't help himself.

What's with the influx of conspiracy driven accounts to HN as of late?

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