Late Thursday night, Elon Musk banned the Twitter accounts of a group of leftist reporters from various left-wing outlets like CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times for violating the site's terms of service agreement against doxxing. They weren't just doxxing anyone, they were dumb enough to reveal the location of Musk's private jet which puts his personal safety in jeopardy. Needless to say, the lefty meltdowns both on Twitter and cable news were explosive and fun to watch.
The leftist media tears were especially delicious on MSNBC & CNN where the respective networks gathered their panelists to wail about the attack on freedom of the press. On MSNBC's The 11th Hour, host Stephanie Ruhle was apparently terrified about Musk banning leftist reporters. "This seems really scary. Okay?" Ruhle cried.
"These are reporters who covered Elon Musk, who have covered the changes on Twitter since he took over. Now he's claiming these suspensions are taking place because these reporters put him at risk," Ruhle added. She then attempted to deny that the reporters have put Musk's safety at risk: "there's not even evidence any of them did that."
Ruhle's guest Alex Stamos from the Krebs Stamos Group claimed Musk was just trying to intimidate reporters from reporting critically on him:
Because as you know, the modern media is kind of addicted to Twitter. Both for getting clips and lot of journalists spend a lot of time there getting stories finding sources and such. And by demonstrating he can take them down at any moment, I think he's looking to intimidate the people who have given him negative coverage.
Meanwhile, on CNN Tonight, they assembled a roundtable therapy session to get through the trauma Musk caused them. Co-host Alisyn Camerota turned to Brian Stelter's former stooge and current CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy to ask "what is CNN gonna do about this?"
Darcy bemoaned how this raises "a big question" about what "the future of the free press on Twitter looks like." Darcy then unironically asked, "are news organizations going to stand by as the reporters are just hastily banned without explanation?"
Keep in mind, Darcy had no issues with conservatives getting banned on Twitter without explanation. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, he doesn't like it.
Darcy then said with a straight face that "CNN is saying it's going to reevaluate its relationship with Twitter based on the response it gets." Yeah, nobody cares if CNN has "a relationship" with Twitter or not.
He then read a statement from CNN in which the network whined about the Twitter suspensions:
The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is concerning but not surprising and it goes on to say Twitter's increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter. And then it goes on to say, we have asked Twitter for an explanation and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response. I think it's so important to point out that Twitter really relies on news. That's kind of the lifeblood of Twitter.
This portion of the CNN therapy session ended with Darcy whining that "if you see news organizations start to hold pull their reporters, pull their brand accounts, pull their content off of Twitter, that’s going to be a real blow to the platform and make it less usable I think for the average person."
The leftist media meltdowns over the suspension of leftist reporters on Twitter were made possible by Chase on MSNBC, and TD Ameritrade on CNN. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcripts of each segment click "expand":
MSNBC’s The 11th Hour
12/15/2022
11:20:35 p.m. EasternSTEPHANIE RUHLE: This seems really scary. Okay? These are reporters who covered Elon Musk, who have covered the changes on Twitter since he took over. Now he's claiming these suspensions are taking place because these reporters put him at risk. Potentially posting his locations. But there's not even evidence any of them did that.
ALEX STAMOS (PARTNER, KREBS STAMOS GROUP): That's right. He's now suspending reporters who have linked to people who have posted the location of private airplanes that are tracked by a open network of people across the United States. Including Musk’s private jet. And not the people who run the accounts themselves, but just journalists who have reported on that fact are now being banned.
As a chief security officer, I’ve had to work on executive protection. And it's true, CEOs of big companies have legitimate security concerns. They get lots of death threats. They always worry about their kids. But there’s absolutely no evidence the accounts that were posting the movements of his jet, and especially these journalists, did anything to put his family at risk.
In fact, the example he brought up was a run-in with someone in Los Angeles where people figured out the exact location in that video. And it was absolutely nowhere near an airport. Had nothing to do with this. This is pretty clearly just a cover for him to start to make really capricious decisions about the journalists he wants to be able to leave. And kinda threw an elbow at all of media.
Because as you know, the modern media is kind of addicted to Twitter. Both for getting clips and lot of journalists spend a lot of time there getting stories finding sources and such. And by demonstrating he can take them down at any moment, I think he's looking to intimidate the people who have given him negative coverage.
CNN Tonight
12/15/2022
11:20:09 p.m. EasternALISYN CAMEROTA: Oliver, what is CNN gonna do about this?
OLIVER DARCY: I think this raises a big question about what the free press—the future of the free press on Twitter looks like. Are news organizations going to stand by as the reporters are just hastily banned without explanation? CNN is saying it's going to reevaluate its relationship with Twitter based on the response it gets. I want to read you the full statement.
It says ‘the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is concerning but not surprising and it goes on to say Twitter's increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter.’ And then it goes on to say, ‘we have asked Twitter for an explanation and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response.’ I think it's so important to point out that Twitter really relies on news. That's kind of the lifeblood of Twitter.
CAMEROTA: And journalists. They’re all on Twitter!
DARCY: So if you see news organizations start to hold pull their reporters, pull their brand accounts, pull their content off of Twitter, that’s going to be a real blow to the platform and make it less usable I think for the average person.
