CNN Suggests It Might Leave Twitter After One of Its Journalists Is Suspended

CNN may be getting off Twitter. On Thursday night, the CNN Communications account shared a statement reacting to the suspension of Donie O’Sullivan. “The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters…

Bradley CortrightDec 16, 20222 min read

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Twitter owner Elon Musk claimed the users, along with O’Sullivan, who were suspended “posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.”

NBC News noted it was unable to verify the claim the users shared his location information in real-time.

In a separate tweet, Musk wrote, “Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not.”

“If anyone posted real-time locations addresses of NYT reporters, FBI would be investigating, there’d be hearings on Capitol Hill Biden would give speeches about end of democracy!” he argued.

It’s not clear if Musk’s explanation satisfied CNN. As of Friday morning, it had not shared future plans for Twitter and it was still sharing stories on the platform.

We may see a cycle of news outlets threatening to leave Twitter and then returning. CBS News stopped posting on the platform for a weekend to “assess the security concerns” in November. Then it resumed posting on the platform.

Twitter is a private company now that the billionaire bought it. So Musk does have the ability to suspend users for whatever he wants, and he does not have to worry about the potential financial repercussions for shareholders if a major news network leaves the platform.

And if he wants to drive away certain users and companies, that is up to him. But it’s a unique strategy if his goal is to promote free speech and discussion on Twitter.