UN: ‘Serious concerns’ remain despite reinstatement of Twitter accounts

The United Nations’ rights chief has commended Twitter’s decision to reinstate the accounts of the journalists banned from the giant social media platform, but warned its billionaire owner Elon Musk that “serious concerns remain.”

“Good news that journalists are being reinstated Twitter, but serious concerns remain,” Volker Turk said on Saturday. “Twitter has a responsibility to respect human rights.”

After Twitter suspended the accounts of more than half a dozen prominent journalists from the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post, who Musk had indirectly accused of endangering his family for revealing their whereabouts, the tech entrepreneur had become the target of politicians from across the globe.

Read more:

• EU warns Musk of ‘sanctions’ after Twitter suspension of journalists

EU Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova tweeted the suspensions were worrying and underscored the “EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act.” She said Musk should be aware that “there are red lines ... and sanctions too.”

Musk announced on Friday that the journalists' accounts would be reinstated. "The people have spoken. Accounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now," the Twitter owner tweeted.

Turk called on Musk to "commit to making decisions based on publicly available policies that respect rights, including free speech. Nothing less."

The latest controversy began when Musk on Wednesday suspended @elonjet, an account that tracked flights of his private plane.

Musk, a self-declared free speech absolutist, said the move was necessary after a car in Los Angeles carrying one of his children was followed by "a crazy stalker" and seemed to blame the tracking of his jet for the incident. Some of the journalists had reported on the affair, including tweets linking to the suspended @elonjet account, which Musk said amounted to offering "assassination coordinates" against him and his family.

In a chat hosted live on Twitter, Musk had provided no evidence for his claim but told some of the suspended reporters that on Twitter "everyone's going to be treated the same." You're "not special because you're a journalist," he said.

The suspensions of the journalists' accounts drew an outpouring of concern from other journalists, rights groups and international organizations. United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday, “The move sets a dangerous precedent at a time when journalists all over the world are facing censorship, physical threats and even worse." He said the UN was “very disturbed by the arbitrary” suspensions.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk