Donie O’Sullivan suspended from Twitter after reporting on Elon Musk

"This is supposed to be the guy who’s the free speech absolutist".

Twitter has suspended the accounts of some journalists who report on Elon Musk and the company, including Cahersiveen-born Donie O'Sullivan. The Twitter account for Mastodon, the platform billed as a Twitter alternative, was also suspended on Thursday evening. Musk alleges that those who were banned had shared the exact location of his private jet. In a series of tweets, the second richest man in the world wrote:

Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else

They posted my exact real-time location, basically assassination coordinates, in (obvious) direct violation of Twitter terms of service.

Same doxxing rules apply to “journalists” as to everyone else
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 16, 2022

"Doxxing" is a term for revealing someone's personal information online. Speaking on CNN, Donie said that he did not share the billionaire's live location, and had simply reported on the news of Twitter suspending @ElonJet, an account that tracks his private jet. The account which has over half a million followers uses publicly available flight tracking information to build a Twitter bot that tweets every time Musk’s Gulfstream took off and landed at an airport.

The account was created by Jack Sweeney, a 20-year-old student living in Florida.

In an article for CNN on Wednesday, Donie reported that the account had been suspended by Twitter, and that Musk had messaged the student directly offering him $5,000 to take down the account.

Donie's Twitter account, along with the accounts of 8 other journalists were banned on Thursday morning.

In another series of tweets, Musk said the journalists would receive a 7 day suspension. "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not", he wrote.

You can watch Donie discussing the suspension HERE.

Header image via CNN