The account that automatically reported the routes of Elon Musk’s private jet was suspended on Wednesday December 14 by the platform despite the businessman’s promise not to touch it, thus illustrating its variable geometry approach to moderation.
The account had been restored at the end of the day on Wednesday in the United States, tweeting its owner: “I’m back!”. Before finally being suspended again for the night.
public data
“My commitment to free speech goes to the point of not banning the account that follows my plane, even if it poses a direct risk to my personal safety,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter in early November, a few days after buying. the platform for 44 billion dollars.
“Account Suspended” was simply written in the account in question, nicknamed @ElonJet, on Wednesday. Created by a student and followed by some 500,000 people, @ElonJet used public data to automatically tell when and where the Spacex and Tesla boss’s device took off and landed.
In a message posted at the top of the account when it was still visible, its author stressed having “all rights to transmit information” about the plane to the extent that the data is public and that all planes have the obligation to be equipped with a transponder. a device intended to help in their identification by radars.
More than 25 accounts suspended
“Posting someone’s location in real time violates the +doxing+ regulations, but posting it offline is allowed,” Elon Musk tweeted on Wednesday, the term “doxing” meaning publicly disclosing, on the Internet, more frequently, personal information related to an individual, without their consent
The personal account of the student, Jack Sweeney, has also been suspended. The same goes for other accounts created by the 20-year-old, which tracked the movements of other celebrities’ private jets. Like Elon Musk’s plane, those of Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos or even Bill Gates saw their routes filled in on Twitter.
In total, the New York Times indicates that more than 25 accounts scrutinizing the devices of government agencies, billionaires or personalities have been suspended. This summer, a similar account (always available) had gained momentum by following Bernard Arnault’s private plane. The LVMH boss had preferred to sell the jet and opted for the rental to be able to travel anonymously.
mixed messages
Since his arrival at the helm of the platform, the billionaire has sent mixed messages about what is authorized and what is not. A fervent defender of great freedom of expression – as long as the comments respect the law – he restored accounts previously banned by the social network, including that of Donald Trump.
But it also suspended Kanye West’s after the publication of several messages considered anti-Semitic and rejected the return to the platform of the far-right cabal, Alex Jones.
Elon Musk has also promoted in recent days the publication of several series of “Twitter files”, internal documents that supposedly illustrate questionable moderation practices under the previous administration.
dangerous attacks
He also personally attacked former Twitter security chief Yoel Roth, who later had to leave his home for security reasons, according to US media.
The co-founder and former head of the platform, Jack Dorsey, publicly defended his former colleagues on Tuesday, saying in a message that the attacks against them “can be dangerous and do not solve anything.”
He also defended the idea that “only the original author of the content should be able to remove it” and that moderation should not be done through a “centralized system” but through algorithms designed by the general public.
Source: BFM TV
