Several notable journalists covering Twitter and Elon Musk were suspended on Thursday night. The accounts were reported to have been “permanently suspended,” but Musk claimed they would only be locked for a week.
Several news organizations have expressed their disappointment with Musk’s recent move, which they believe demonstrates his unexpected decision-making manner despite his claims to be a “free speech absolutist.”
New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, Mashable’s Matt Binder, The Intercept’s Micah Lee, Voice of America’s Steve Herman, and freelance journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann, and Tony Webster all had their accounts suspended as of Thursday night.
People have been eager to learn more about the journalists who have been suspended since the news surfaced. In this article, we will go over everything you need to know about Matt Binder and why he was suspended from Twitter.
Who Is Matt Binder Of Mashable And Why Was His Account Suspended From Twitter?
According to his Linkedin profile, Matt Binder is a digital media creator, Video producer, writer, and journalist working at Mashable. His areas of expertise include politics, technology, humor, and viral media.
CEO Elon Musk has suspended Binder and several other users who have written extensively and critically about Musk from Twitter.
No one knows for sure why they were banned or suspended or what rules were broken on each individual’s part.
In a statement, Binder said, “I have been very critical of Musk, but I have never broken any of Twitter’s rules.” According to Twitter’s new rules, he said, “I did not share any location information.” “I also didn’t share any links to ElonJet or other accounts that track where people are.”
Mashable’s tech writer Binder claims he was suspended for sharing a screenshot of an LAPD statement taken from the Twitter account of CNN’s O’Sullivan, who is also suspended.
“I’ve been on it since 2008. I never got so much as a slap on the wrist because I always follow the rules,” Binder said. “It’s not hard to do when you know what the rules are.”
Binder claims he received a message from his account informing him of a permanent ban. This is the kind of thing he condemned the old Twitter for, Binder said of Musk.
Binder did seem to find a way around Twitter’s ban by participating in a Thursday night audio chat on Twitter Spaces with other journalists. Subsequently, Harwell accompanied them. Binder made a joke about how he was breaking the law in novel ways.
Musk Tweeted That The Banned Accounts Posted His Exact Real-Time Location
Musk tweeted that the banned accounts posted “my exact real-time location, which is basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter’s terms of service.” He said later that the bans would last for seven days.
Musk took over Twitter in early November. Not long after that, he tweeted that he would not ban the account that tracked his jet.
After the popular Twitter account @ElonJet began tracking Musk’s personal plane, this week he instituted arbitrary regulations prohibiting publicly available information about flights. As of Wednesday, Twitter’s official rules have been amended to reflect Musk’s opposition to his jet being tracked; he also posted about an incident in Los Angeles in which he claims a car containing his son X A-12 was followed, blaming @ElonJet for the alleged privacy infringement. Binder claims he was banned “immediately after uploading a screenshot” of “an official LAPD statement about the situation Elon Musk was tweeting about last night.”
As of Wednesday, both @ElonJet and its creator, 20-year-old college student Jack Sweeney, were banned from Twitter. Mastodon, a competitor social media network, also had its Twitter account suspended after it tweeted about @ElonJet. Mastodon’s ban was the subject of Harwell’s final tweet.
