An official with the European Commission reacted early Friday to Twitter’s recent suspension of some journalists, appearing to suggest that Twitter CEO Elon Musk or the company could face sanctions.
Reports of Twitter suspending the accounts of some journalists arose Thursday. The suspended accounts include those of CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, The Intercept reporter Micah Lee and others, Fox News reported.
“News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying,” European Commission Vice-President for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová tweeted Friday morning. “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”
EU WARNS MUSK IT MAY BAN TWITTER OVER CONCERNS ABOUT CONTENT MODERATION
The Digital Services Act increases mechanisms for the “effective protection of users’ fundamental rights online, including the freedom of speech,” and for platform oversight, among other things, according to the European Commission’s website.
Musk, who took over Twitter in late October, argued the reporters had “posted my exact real-time location” or “doxxed” him. His decision to suspend the journalists, many of whom had recently been covering Musk or Twitter, has drawn significant backlash.
ELON MUSK SAYS HE FACES ‘QUITE SIGNIFICANT’ RISK OF BEING ASSASSINATED
On Thursday night, Musk tweeted a poll asking his followers whether he should “unsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time” immediately, “tomorrow,” “7 days from now” or “longer.” The “now” option had the highest percentage of votes, at 43%.
He posted a similar poll later in the evening with the options “now” or “in 7 days.”
TWITTER BANS, REINSTATES, THEN SUSPENDS ACCOUNT THAT TRACKED ELON MUSK’S PRIVATE PLANE
A day earlier, the social media platform issued a suspension against a Twitter account tracking Musk’s private jet called @ElonJet. Also on Wednesday, the platform changed its rules to prohibit users from “live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person’s location, regardless if this information is publicly available.”
FOX Business reached out to Twitter for comment.
Fox News’ Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.