A top official for the European Union warned Twitter CEO Elon Musk about “red lines” that exist and potential “sanctions” to come following the platform’s suspension of multiple journalists who cover him and Twitter.
Věra Jourová, the vice president for values and transparency on the European Commission, tweeted that the EU’s Digital Services Act requires “respect for media freedom and fundamental rights” and the Media Freedom Act reinforces this.
“@elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon,” she said.
Jourová’s post came after the accounts of reporters for media outlets like The New York Times, CNN and Voice of America were suspended on Thursday. Musk posted on Twitter that that journalists were sharing private information about his whereabouts that amounted to “assassination coordinates,” but he did not provide evidence of this.
Musk on Wednesday suspended an account that automatically tracked the location of his private jet using publicly available information despite previously saying that it would not be banned, and the journalists whose accounts were suspended were covering that account’s suspension.
Musk has defended the suspensions, saying in a tweet on Thursday that the “same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” adding, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”
Musk posted a poll on his account on Friday to ask users whether the accounts should be unfrozen immediately or in seven days.
He posted one on Thursday where users could vote for “now,” “tomorrow,” “7 days from now” or “longer.” A plurality voted for “now,” but Musk said there were too many options and he would redo the poll.