The EU has threatened Twitter owner Elon Musk with sanctions after several journalists covering the company had their accounts abruptly suspended.
Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts.
EU commissioner Vera Jourova said the EU’s new Digital Services Act requires “the respect of media freedom”.
The German Foreign Office also warned Twitter that “press freedom cannot be switched on and off on a whim”.
Commissioner Ms Jourova said the news about the suspension of journalists on Twitter was “worrying”.
“[The] EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act,” she said.
“Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.”
Mr Musk tweeted that accounts which he claimed engaged in doxxing – a term to describe to the release of private information online about individuals – receive a temporary seven-day suspension.
“Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else,” he tweeted. A Twitter spokeswoman earlier told tech website The Verge that the ban was related to the live sharing of location data.
Mr Musk took control of Twitter in October in a $44bn ($36bn) deal. A spokesman for the New York Times called the suspensions “questionable and unfortunate”.
It comes after Mr Musk vowed to sue the owner of a profile that tracks his private jet.
He said said a “crazy stalker” had used live location sharing to find and accost a vehicle carrying his children in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, Twitter suspended the account @ElonJet, as well as the personal account of its owner Jack Sweeney, 20. (SOURCE)
