Elon Musk's Twitter Suspends Reporters With Twin Cities Ties

TWIN CITIES, MN — Twitter on Thursday suspended a number of high-profile journalists from the website, including two with ties to the Twin Cities.

Aaron Rupar and Tony Webster, two independent reporters, both lost their accounts. Webster — a prolific photographer and expert in Freedom of Information Act requests — has written for the Minnesota Reformer, among other publications.

Rupar previously worked for the Minneapolis City Pages, and Webster has written for the Minnesota Reformer, among other publications. It's not clear why Twitter singled them out for suspension.

Other journalists who were suspended include reporters who cover social media for The New York Times, Washington Post, and CNN.

The suspensions came after Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, decided to permanently ban "ElonJet," an account that used public data to track the flights of his private jet.

Twitter has new rules that prohibit the sharing of another person’s current location without their consent.

"Same doxxing rules apply to ‘journalists’ as to everyone else," Musk tweeted Thursday. "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," he later added.

Numerous news executives condemned the suspensions, including the Washington Post’s Sally Buzbee.

Buzbee said the suspension "directly undermines Elon Musk’s claim that he intends to run Twitter as a platform dedicated to free speech."

She called for Twitter to rescind its ban on the Post’s Drew Harwell, stating that he was "banished without warning, process or explanation, following the publication of his accurate reporting about Musk."

In a statement, CNN stated that "Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter."

Reporting from the Associated Press was used in this story.