Independent American journalist Ken Klippenstein has been indefinitely barred from using Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
What Happened: This action was taken after Klippenstein on Thursday published leaked documents allegedly associated with Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio.), the running mate of Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In his newsletter, Klippenstein disclosed a 271-page opposition research file on Vance, which is suspected to be part of an Iranian scheme to influence the U.S. election.
Following the publication of these files, Klippenstein was banned from X, where he had posted a link to his report and the dossier. Now, the independent journalist has asserted that his ban from X is permanent.
“Elon Musk is an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance's political campaign,” he said.
Adding, “X clearly doesn't want to give the appearance that my ban was politically motivated. But a careful look at the pretext X cites for my suspension makes it obvious that this is political.”
Klippenstein also said that his article discloses less private information than the Hunter Biden laptop story, which Musk had previously criticized Twitter for blocking.
He also points out that any user who posts a link to his article on X gets their account locked, mirroring Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop story.
The journalist went on to add that X usually offers users the chance to remove posts violating its policies to reinstate their accounts.
However, he claims he received no such offer. As a test, he and his editor redacted all “private” information from the Vance Dossier on Substack and filed an appeal, yet his ban remains.
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Why It Matters: In December 2022, after Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion, several high-profile journalists’ accounts were suspended over the platform’s new “doxxing” policy.
Musk has repeatedly said that his acquisition of the social media site was primarily motivated by his commitment to free speech. However, the recent ban on Klippenstein raises questions about the platform’s commitment to these principles.
The tech mogul has previously also criticized Twitter for banning Trump and reinstated the former President’s account on X.
Meanwhile, Musk’s involvement with the Hunter Biden story was marked by his release of internal Twitter communications that detail how the platform handled a controversial article from the New York Post in October 2020.
This article alleged corruption involving Hunter Biden, particularly focusing on emails from a laptop purportedly belonging to him.
At the time, Musk said that revealing these documents was “necessary to restore public trust.”
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