CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan on Twitter ban: Could have ‘chilling impact’ on journalism

CNN technology correspondent Donie O’Sullivan warned on Thursday that Elon Musk’s decision to suspend several reporters, including himself, from Twitter could have a “chilling impact” on journalism.

“In terms of me personally, many of the national reporters at the Times and the Post, we’re OK,” O’Sullivan said on CNN on Thursday night. “I’m on the Anderson Cooper show. We have a platform. And just like when Trump got kicked off, we can post elsewhere.”

“I do think this is very important about the potential chilling impact this can have for freelance journalists, independent journalists around the world, particularly those who cover Elon Musk’s other companies like Tesla and SpaceX,” he continued. “I think this could have a real chilling factor.”

O’Sullivan’s Twitter account was suspended on Thursday night, alongside several other reporters who cover Musk and Twitter at The New York Times, The Washington Post and other outlets. 

Musk has defended the suspensions, claiming that the journalists violated Twitter’s policies against “doxxing.” Doxxing refers to the publishing of someone’s private information, such as emails, phone numbers and addresses, online without their consent.

The billionaire accused the journalists of doxxing him in their coverage of his dispute with Jack Sweeney, the creator of a Twitter account that tracked the movements of Musk’s private jet that has since been suspended.

“Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not,” Musk said on Thursday night, in response to a tweet about the suspensions.

However, O’Sullivan noted that the suspensions seemed to contradict Musk’s claims of being a “free speech activist.”

“As we saw with the jet tracker last night, Musk seems to be just stamping out accounts that he doesn’t like,” O’Sullivan said.

While the messages the journalists initially received from Twitter suggested that the bans were permanent, Musk turned to Twitter on Thursday night to ask users how long the suspensions should last. He appeared to cap out the suspensions at a week in a revised poll.