X suspends, then restores social media accounts critical of Elon Musk

The accounts of several journalists and critics of Elon Musk were recently removed from X, formerly known as Twitter, in a purge that came with little explanation.

Among the accounts suspended were that of Miami activist Thomas Kennedy, journalist Steven Monacelli from the Texas Observer, investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, and the left-wing podcast TrueAnon.

Kennedy said he received no explanation from the social media site regarding his suspension.

"Musk's usual sycophants who pretend to care about free speech will be twisting themselves into pretzels trying to explain how banning ideas they don't like from the platform is actually free speech," Kennedy told Miami New Times, which is owned by the same company as Phoenix New Times.

Popular account @zei_squirrel — which has verbally skewered Musk as well as billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman over the latter's stance in the Israel-Hamas conflict — was also suspended. Zei_squirrel recently posted a cartoon on Instagram quipping that Musk grew up in a wealthy family in apartheid South Africa but portrays himself as a "galaxy brain genius" who "started from the bottom."

It's unclear if there was a common thread that precipitated the suspensions.

After far-right, Miami-based political commentator Jackson Hinkle questioned Musk about the recent wave of suspended accounts on X, the accounts in question were restored on Tuesday.

I will investigate. Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal.

(Apart from the “UN Exemption”, where officials from countries recognized by the UN can say what they say at the UN).

For the record, I do…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2024

"Why are accounts critical of ISRAEL being suspended? @elonmusk," Hinkle tweeted.

Musk vowed to investigate the matter in response, responding, "Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal.

"(Apart from the “UN Exemption”, where officials from countries recognized by the UN can say what they say at the UN). For the record, I do not personally agree with your views. Nonetheless, the point of freedom of speech is allowing those whose views you disagree with to express those views."

Musk subsequently claimed the accounts had been caught up in routine sweeps for spammers and scammers, tweeting, "We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them."

Monacelli's recently published articles have tackled the politicization of Texas school boards and the arrest of a pastor who sprayed "No Islam" graffiti. Klippenstein's recent work has focused on the Israel-Hamas war and weapons supply in the conflict.

"This seems to be a targeted and broad ban against journalists and activists who have been critical of the war in Gaza and Elon Musk himself," Kennedy said.

Another account, @theLiamNissan, was suspended shortly after it posted a joke about "Apartheid Clyde" in response to one of Musk's posts on illegal immigration in the U.S.

The suspensions were noted by Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Alejandra Caraballo, who noted some of the profiles were "shit-posting" accounts, i.e., those that post controversial material to provoke reactions.

They also got zei squirrel and Liam Nissan, both shit posting accounts that were critical of Elon and Bill Ackman. pic.twitter.com/xmqB4rlFAr

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) January 9, 2024

Musk, who led an acquisition of X, then known as Twitter, in 2022, has been criticized of late for suspending or allowing the suspension of journalists' accounts in spite of his allegedly uncompromising stance on free speech, which he has cited as the motivation behind buying out the social media giant.

In December 2022, the site removed the accounts of several prominent journalists, some of whom were critical of Musk and his ownership of the platform. Their suspensions came days after the account tracking Musk's private jet, @ElonJet, was banned from the site. Those suspensions included accounts of Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Ryan Mac of the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN and independent journalist Aaron Rupar.

Musk claimed the round of suspensions late last year was in response to journalists' violation of the platform's rules on personal privacy after they had published articles about the removal of the jet-tracking account. He reinstated the journalists' accounts following public outcry and a poll on the platform that supported their reinstatements.

Some had to delete certain posts in order to be welcomed back on the platform.