Elon Musk has championed himself as a free speech absolutist, but his latest move to ban journalists supposedly for sharing publicly available data suggests otherwise. 

Several journalists were suspended on Thursday night after @ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracked the publicly available location of the Tesla CEO’s private jet, was banned. Musk had previously stated that he would not ban this exact account, but he later doubled back, claiming it violated Twitter’s policies. The alleged reasoning behind the ban was due to concerns of doxxing, the practice of releasing “personal or private information that may prove harmful or embarrassing.” Musk claimed that a stalker followed a car carrying his son, implying that it was as a result of information allegedly shared by ElonJet. 

Twitter’s reasoning for these recent suspensions seem unclear, as suspended journalists said they merely shared critical reporting of Musk's leadership rather than violating any platform rules against doxxing. Washington Post journalist Drew Harwell was suspended after discussing how a Twitter competitor, Mastodon, shared a link to the ElonJet Twitter account. Musk later clarified in a Twitter Space that journalists were subject to the same doxxing rules as regular site users , even though many of the suspended accounts were not sharing his location. As one CNN journalist, Donie O’Sullivan, said after he was suspended for discussing the story, “I think this could have a real chilling factor.”

While mainstream journalists are getting kicked off of Twitter for reporting, the same standard does not appear to apply to right-wing journalists and accounts. Musk’s friendly relationship with many of these accounts seems to skew how the Twitter terms of service are applied. Right-wing media have repeatedly encouraged the doxxing of private individuals and targeted LGBTQ pride events.

One of the largest perpetrators of this is the far-right, anti-LGBTQ account Libs of Tik Tok, with which Musk has had repeated friendly interactions. 

Rather than express concern about journalists being attacked, right-wing media largely supported the suspensions of their mainstream colleagues and resorted to hyperbole to defend Musk:

• Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt defended Musk’s decision, saying he and his family “should be able to go to restaurants and be able to go out and enjoy their lives without having to worry about somebody coming up to them or throwing a molotov cocktail at their restaurant.”
• The Gateway Pundit reported that “CNN announced it is going to reevaluate its relationship with Twitter after their reporter was banned for doxxing the location of a child.”
• Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton falsely claimed that “Major leftist media publications sought to dox @ElonMusk, later claiming that media outlets were “placing his and his family's safety at risk.”
• Conservative pundit Maria Ryan lamented on Twitter that Musk’s fame must be difficult, saying, “You are so right. It’s tough to be a public figure as it is. Families should be off limits. Suspend for a month.”
• Right-wing internet personality Terrence K. Williams suggested that Musk’s supposed free-speech crusade has put a target on his back: “We need to Protect Elon Musk! Him and his family are in danger because he’s fighting for Free Speech.”
• Far-right conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza claimed that Twitter’s suspension rules are more “reasonable” since Musk took over, saying, “No one is a free speech absolutist. The issue is what restrictions are reasonable. Banning people for ‘misinformation’ or even ‘hate’ is not. Suspensions for revealing the real-time locations of public figures is. Twitter has gone from unreasonable suspensions to reasonable ones.”

Other right-wing media and fringe figures reveled in the bans:

• Anti-LGBTQ bigot Matt Walsh tweeted, “Twitter banned conservatives at will every day for years and the media didn’t care. A handful of libs get temporarily suspended last night and it’s a leading story on every corporate media site. The only appropriate response to this spectacle is simply to laugh at these clowns.”
• Newsmax and OAN contributor Kyle Becker attempted to paint the suspended journalists as liars, stating, “These ‘journalists’ that left-wing Twitter is defending are the biggest bunch of liars & propagandists imaginable. They lied about Russia collusion. About BLM. About Covid. About ‘vaccines.’ About masks. About mass shootings. About January 6. All the way down the line. Fuck ‘em.”
• Former Fox host and CEO of The Blaze Glenn Beck evoked deep-state claims by stating, “So much for the ‘Twitter is a private company’ argument now that @elonmusk isn’t doing the deep state’s bidding.”
• Conservative radio host Erick Erickson tweeted, “The overwrought commentary on CNN, MSNBC, etc. is embarrassing. I'm sorry, but you guys have 24/7 TV networks and you're crying that your Twitter account is suspended. Grow up. You're not that important anyway.” 
• Gab CEO Andrew Torba called the suspensions “something special” after asserting that journalists “don't have children, they have a Twitter account.”
• QAnon influencer QAnon John noted on Telegram that a “liberal journalist” had been suspended, before asking, “Elon, can we PLEASE do something about Alex Kaplan, Mike Rothschild, Will Sommer, Travis View, Keith Olbermann et al???”
• Greg Price, a former Daily Caller contributor, tweeted, “A few libs getting temporarily suspended from Twitter is the biggest threat to our democracy since the Civil War.”
• In regard to the suspensions, conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec gleefully tweeted, “I have never seen Elon Musk and Santa Claus in the same place at the same time…” 
• One America News’ Addison Smith attacked the suspended journalists, tweeting, “I love the new Twitter. Elon casually telling the regime journalists that they aren't special and won't be treated as such, is fantastic. A colossal blow to their fragile, inflated egos.”