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A Silicon Valley investor says Elon Musk's move to abruptly suspend journalists on Twitter is 'a direct attack' by the CEO 'on journalism'

Dec 17, 2022, 23:42 IST
Business Insider
Carina Johansen/Getty Images
  • A Silicon Valley investor blasted Elon Musk's decision to suspend several journalists on Twitter.
  • "Elon Musk does not believe in journalism," businessman Roger McNamee told MSNBC.
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A Silicon Valley investor on Frida excoriated Twitter CEO Elon Musk's decision to suspend several journalists on the platform after he accused them of doxxing him.

"What Elon Musk really wants is a soap opera in which he is the star and the only actor that matters," Roger McNamee, who also authored "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe," told MSNBC. "The camera should be on him all the time. I think the details are going to change, but there will be a constant escalation as he seeks attention for everything he does,"

"Elon Musk does not believe in journalism. He does not believe that anyone has the right to criticize what he's doing. And so journalists whose job it is to call power into account are, in his mind, the enemy. And he's not alone in this," McNamee continued. "This has become a trope among billionaires in Silicon Valley. They really believe the press is unfair to them because the press sometimes questions their motives, sometimes questions their actions."

Twitter, earlier this week, suddenly suspended a number of prominent journalists who cover Musk, including Drew Harwell of The Washington Post, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, the New York Times' Ryan Mac, and independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann, and Tony Webster.

The wave of suspensions occurred after the company also suspended 20-year-old college student Jack Sweeny, who created an account that tracks the location of Musk's private jet. It prompted the company to update its privacy policy, barring users from sharing "someone else's live location," Insider previously reported. In a tweet on Thursday, Musk said: "Same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else."

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As of Friday, the accounts of the reporters were reinstated after the billionaire conducted a poll.

"I think in this particular case, what we have going on here is a direct attack by Elon Musk on journalism and, by extension, on democracy," McNamee told MSNBC. "And I think policymakers and journalists have to go to battle stations here."

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