X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter’s Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]

Update, 12:35: X has restored the banned accounts without explanation. The Hamas affiliated account is still suspended.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published. The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others. One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.

Elon Musk spent the last few months dealing with blowback after he endorsed the blatantly racist conspiracy theory that Jews encourage “hatred against whites.” The CEO then embarked on a campaign to restore his image, celebrating the Israeli military, denouncing antisemitism, and traveling to Israel for an impromptu meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I haven’t received any communications from Twitter/X about why I have been suspended. I can’t think of anything I’ve posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months,” Monacelli told Gizmodo. “Yes, I have made posts critical of Israel’s targeting of civilians and journalists, and have shared news about pro-Palestinian protests, but I have also recently made posts and shared news debunking antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel.”

Similarly, the TrueAnon podcast recently concluded a two-part series delving into Israel’s nuclear weapons program. “Why did Elon ban my podcast account what about free speech,” Liz Franczak, co-host of TrueAnon, wrote on her personal X account. “Why is the woke mob coming after hard working American small businesses?”

We’ve reached out to other affected users and will update this article if we hear back. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As a journalist I’ve been matrix dodging layoffs my entire career, Elon isn’t even on the top 10 of threats to my survival,” Klippenstein wrote on X. “Had the ban stuck – and I imagine it will eventually – I would’ve just migrated to my newsletter.”

Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted in 2022, in the lead-up to buying the platform.

In reality, Musk has a long history of silencing his critics and censoring views he finds disagreeable. The world’s richest man hasn’t commented on the majority of the account suspensions, but he did respond to a tweet asking about @qassam2024, an account tied to Hamas’s military.

“This was a tough call,” Musk wrote on X. “While many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a ‘UN exemption rule’; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts. Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was suspended.”

Unlike the other accounts banned on the same day, the Hamas account is still suspended.

Other banned accounts, however, have no history of calling for killing people, but they’ve all criticized the Israeli government. Klippenstein, for example, recently posted an article on his Substack newsletter noting that Musk discussed AI during his November meeting with Netanyahu as the Israeli government used AI to bomb Gaza. Klippenstein has also posted critiques of the Israeli government and military on X.

This isn’t the first time Musk kicked journalists off the platform and then welcomed them back after public criticism. In 2022, Musk rewrote Twitter’s rules in order to ban @ElonJet, an account that tracked his private jet, and then suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who wrote about @ElonJet, including some that had never actually discussed it on X. It sparked widespread condemnation, and shortly thereafter, the accounts were restored, despite the fact that Musk continued to claim they violated X’s rules.

This article is part of a developing story. Our writers and editors will be updating this page as new information is released. Please check back again in a few minutes to see the latest updates. Meanwhile, if you want more news coverage, check out our tech, science, or io9 front pages. And you can always see the most recent Gizmodo news stories at gizmodo.com/latest.

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