The billionaire has so far struggled to square his free speech proselytizing with his decisions to squash criticism against him on the platform.
When he announced that he wanted to buy the company earlier this year, Musk tweeted, “I hope that even my worst critics remain on Twitter, because that is what free speech means.” But his haphazard decisions since becoming CEO have both scared off advertisers that the company desperately needs and turned many users off of the platform.
Most recently, Musk falsely accused the @ElonJet account — which was banned Wednesday — of doxxing him by posting his real-time location. He said that evening that a car his child was in was followed by a “crazy stalker” who thought he was trailing Musk. (The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement that no police report about the alleged incident has been filed.)
“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,” Musk tweeted.
Then on Thursday, he lobbed the same false doxxing accusation against journalists who covered @ElonJet being banned from Twitter, and suspended them. Reporters who tweeted the LAPD statement were also suspended.
