On Wednesday (December 14, US local time) night, Elon Musk announced that the Twitter handles which post the real-time location of individuals and compromise their physical safety would be suspended.
In a tweet, the new Twitter owner said, “Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.”
While granting an exception to the Twitter violation rules, he further emphasised, “Posting locations someone travelled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.”
Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022
Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn’t a safety problem, so is ok.
While responding to a Twitter user, Musk clarified that journalists would not be treated as exceptions for endangering the lives of individuals by posting links to their live location. “Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else,” he reiterated.
Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022
According to New York Post journalist, Jon Levine, several reporters have faced the wrath of the new Twitter owner under the new doxxing rules.
This included CNN reporter, Donie O’Sullivan, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, The New York Times reporter Ryan Mac and independent journalist Aaron Rupar.
Reporters covering Elon Musk being nuked:
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) December 16, 2022
Donie O’Sullivan, @CNN
Drew Harwell, @washingtonpost
Ryan Mac, @nytimes
Aaron Rupar, independent pic.twitter.com/1x9oJijobA
The Background of the Incident
On Wednesday (December 14, US local time), Elon Musk informed that his 2-year-old son named ‘X’ was doxxed by a ‘crazy stalker’ after mistaking his child for him. The stalker was seen wearing a black hoodie and recording the incident on camera.
“Last night, a car carrying little X in LA was followed by a crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked the car from moving & climbed onto the hood,” Musk narrated the ordeal.
He had also posted an 11-second-long video of the alleged stalker and vowed to take action against a college student named Jack Sweeney, who used publicly available data to track the movement of the billionaire’s private jet to ‘raise awareness about carbon footprints.’
Anyone recognize this person or car? pic.twitter.com/2U0Eyx7iwl
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 15, 2022
The new Twitter owner had also permanently suspended the account Jack Sweeney, an action criticised by the college student who dubbed Elon Musk as a hypocrite.
Meanwhile, Musk had informed, “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.” Reportedly, ‘X’ is one of the 10 children fathered by the new Twitter owner.
