X Bans and Then Unbans Journalists and Podcasters in Twitter’s Latest Free Speech Massacre [Updated]

Update, 1:12 p.m.: Shortly after this article was published, Musk responded to a question about the issue from far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle. Musk promised to investigate, and the accounts went back up soon after. Musk later blamed the “mistake” on X’s spam algorithms. The Hamas account is still suspended.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published. The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others. One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.

Elon Musk spent the last few months dealing with blowback after he endorsed the blatantly racist conspiracy theory that Jews encourage “hatred against whites.” The CEO then embarked on a campaign to restore his image, celebrating the Israeli military, denouncing antisemitism, and traveling to Israel for an impromptu meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I can’t think of anything I’ve posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months,” Monacelli told Gizmodo. “Yes, I have made posts critical of Israel’s targeting of civilians and journalists, and have shared news about pro-Palestinian protests, but I have also recently made posts and shared news debunking antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel.”

Less than half an hour after this article was published, far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle tweeted at Musk, asking him why accounts critical of Israel were being suspended. Musk, who has a history of handling customer service questions for prominent conservative users, responded.

“I will investigate. Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal,” Musk wrote. “For the record, I do not personally agree with your views. Nonetheless, the point of freedom of speech is allowing those whose views you disagree with to express those views.” Shortly thereafter, the accounts were restored.

Journalist firebrand Glenn Greenwald, a darling of the Neolibertarian Twitter movement, thanked Musk for looking into the problem. Musk blamed the suspensions on X’s anti-spam algorithms.

“We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them,” Musk tweeted. In another tweet, the billionaire wrote, “There are around 600 million active accounts on this platform. Mistakes are bound to be made at such a scale, but we try to fix them quickly.”

Monacelli shared an email from X apologizing for the issue. “We’re writing to let you know that we’ve unsuspended your account,” X’s support team wrote. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on X soon.”

Like the other accounts, the TrueAnon podcast has a history of criticizing the Israeli government, and recently concluded a two-part series delving into the country’s nuclear weapons program. “Why did Elon ban my podcast account what about free speech,” Liz Franczak, co-host of TrueAnon, wrote on her personal X account. “Why is the woke mob coming after hard working American small businesses?”

We’ve reached out to other affected users and will update this article if we hear back. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As a journalist I’ve been matrix dodging layoffs my entire career, Elon isn’t even on the top 10 of threats to my survival,” Klippenstein wrote on X. “Had the ban stuck – and I imagine it will eventually – I would’ve just migrated to my newsletter.”

Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted in 2022, in the lead-up to buying the platform. In reality, Musk has a long history of silencing his critics and censoring views he finds disagreeable.

The world’s richest man hasn’t blamed the majority of the account suspensions on automated mistakes. However, @qassam2024, an account tied to Hamas’s military, was banned the just one day prior. This was an intentional policy decision, according to Musk, unlike the other “mistakes.”

“This was a tough call,” Musk wrote on X. “While many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a ‘UN exemption rule’; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts. Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was suspended.”

Unlike the other users, the Hamas account is still suspended. Musk tweeted that the “UN exemption” still applies.

Other banned accounts, however, have no history of calling for killing people, but they’ve all criticized the Israeli government. Klippenstein, for example, recently posted an article on his Substack newsletter noting that Musk discussed AI during his November meeting with Netanyahu as the Israeli government used AI to bomb Gaza. Klippenstein has also posted critiques of the Israeli government and military on X.

This isn’t the first time Musk kicked journalists off the platform and then welcomed them back after public criticism. In 2022, Musk rewrote Twitter’s rules in order to ban @ElonJet, an account that tracked his private jet, and then suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who wrote about @ElonJet, including some that had never actually discussed it on X. It sparked widespread condemnation, and soon after, the accounts were restored, despite the fact that Musk continued to claim they violated X’s rules.

Update, 1:12 p.m.: Shortly after this article was published, Musk responded to a question about the issue from far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle. Musk promised to investigate, and the accounts went back up soon after. Musk later blamed the “mistake” on X’s spam algorithms. The Hamas account is still suspended.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, purged an unknown number of prominent accounts over the last 24 hours with little to no explanation, and then restored the accounts minutes after this article was published. The list includes popular accounts belonging to journalists, writers, and podcasters. Among them are Ken Klippenstein of the Intercept, writer and podcaster Rob Rousseau, Texas Observer correspondent Steven Monacelli, the account for TrueAnon, a left-wing politics and news podcast, and a number of others. One thing the accounts have in common is recent criticisms of the Israeli government.

Elon Musk spent the last few months dealing with blowback after he endorsed the blatantly racist conspiracy theory that Jews encourage “hatred against whites.” The CEO then embarked on a campaign to restore his image, celebrating the Israeli military, denouncing antisemitism, and traveling to Israel for an impromptu meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I can’t think of anything I’ve posted lately that would be worthy of suspension. Although I have written multiple critical reports about Twitter/X and Elon Musk in recent months,” Monacelli told Gizmodo. “Yes, I have made posts critical of Israel’s targeting of civilians and journalists, and have shared news about pro-Palestinian protests, but I have also recently made posts and shared news debunking antisemitism disguised as criticism of Israel.”

Less than half an hour after this article was published, far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle tweeted at Musk, asking him why accounts critical of Israel were being suspended. Musk, who has a history of handling customer service questions for prominent conservative users, responded.

“I will investigate. Obviously, it is ok to be critical of anything, but it is not ok to call for extreme violence, as that is illegal,” Musk wrote. “For the record, I do not personally agree with your views. Nonetheless, the point of freedom of speech is allowing those whose views you disagree with to express those views.” Shortly thereafter, the accounts were restored.

Journalist firebrand Glenn Greenwald, a darling of the Neolibertarian Twitter movement, thanked Musk for looking into the problem. Musk blamed the suspensions on X’s anti-spam algorithms.

“We do sweeps for spam/scam accounts and sometimes real accounts get caught up in them,” Musk tweeted. In another tweet, the billionaire wrote, “There are around 600 million active accounts on this platform. Mistakes are bound to be made at such a scale, but we try to fix them quickly.”

Monacelli shared an email from X apologizing for the issue. “We’re writing to let you know that we’ve unsuspended your account,” X’s support team wrote. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience and hope to see you back on X soon.”

Like the other accounts, the TrueAnon podcast has a history of criticizing the Israeli government, and recently concluded a two-part series delving into the country’s nuclear weapons program. “Why did Elon ban my podcast account what about free speech,” Liz Franczak, co-host of TrueAnon, wrote on her personal X account. “Why is the woke mob coming after hard working American small businesses?”

We’ve reached out to other affected users and will update this article if we hear back. X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As a journalist I’ve been matrix dodging layoffs my entire career, Elon isn’t even on the top 10 of threats to my survival,” Klippenstein wrote on X. “Had the ban stuck – and I imagine it will eventually – I would’ve just migrated to my newsletter.”

Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist” has previously said no one should be banned from X unless they break the law. “Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy,” Musk tweeted in 2022, in the lead-up to buying the platform. In reality, Musk has a long history of silencing his critics and censoring views he finds disagreeable.

The world’s richest man hasn’t blamed the majority of the account suspensions on automated mistakes. However, @qassam2024, an account tied to Hamas’s military, was banned the just one day prior. This was an intentional policy decision, according to Musk, unlike the other “mistakes.”

“This was a tough call,” Musk wrote on X. “While many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a ‘UN exemption rule’; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts. Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was suspended.”

Unlike the other users, the Hamas account is still suspended. Musk tweeted that the “UN exemption” still applies.

Other banned accounts, however, have no history of calling for killing people, but they’ve all criticized the Israeli government. Klippenstein, for example, recently posted an article on his Substack newsletter noting that Musk discussed AI during his November meeting with Netanyahu as the Israeli government used AI to bomb Gaza. Klippenstein has also posted critiques of the Israeli government and military on X.

This isn’t the first time Musk kicked journalists off the platform and then welcomed them back after public criticism. In 2022, Musk rewrote Twitter’s rules in order to ban @ElonJet, an account that tracked his private jet, and then suspended the accounts of a number of journalists who wrote about @ElonJet, including some that had never actually discussed it on X. It sparked widespread condemnation, and soon after, the accounts were restored, despite the fact that Musk continued to claim they violated X’s rules.