Donie O'Sullivan, a CNN correspondent and native of Co Kerry, is among several high-profile journalists whose Twitter accounts were suspended on Thursday, December 15.
O'Sullivan said on CNN after his Twitter account was suspended that all suspended accounts were of journalists who covered Elon Musk and, in particular, the now shuttered-Twitter @ElonJet account that was tracking the location of his private jet using publicly available information
"As we saw with the jet tracker last night, Musk seems to be just stamping out accounts that he doesn’t like," O'Sullivan said on CNN on Thursday night.
"We reported how yesterday he shut that account (ElonJet) down," O'Sullivan continued. "He is claiming on social media that I and other journalists shared the precise live location of his jet and that's why he kicked us off because we caused danger to him.
"In my case, I didn't. I just posted stories about what was happening."
Twitter did not give a reason why the accounts were suspended, although Musk claimed that the accounts were suspended for "doxxing", a term used to describe the publication of private information about an individual.
Musk, who describes himself as a "free-speech absolutist," tweeted that the "same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else".
"Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not," Musk said in a separate tweet after claiming that his son had been followed by a "crazy stalker".
Last month, Musk boasted that his commitment to free speech extended to not suspending the @ElonJet account, which posted publicly available data about his private jet. Musk claimed that the account was a "direct personal safety risk".
On Thursday, he said all if the suspended accounts would remain suspended for seven days, adding that he would be running Twitter polls to determine if the accounts should be reinstated.
Elon Musk.
In a statement, CNN described the suspensions as "concerning but not surprising".
"The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising," CNN said in a tweet on Thursday.
"Twitter’s increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses the platform. We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response."
The New York Times also called on Twitter to provide answers regarding the "questionable" suspension of journalists' accounts.
Independent journalist Aaron Rupar, whose account was among those suspended, said he had "no idea" what rules he had broken.
Just hours after the accounts had been suspended, Musk joined a Twitter Space audio discussion with more than 30,000 listeners, where he faced off with one of the journalists whose account had been suspended.
"You doxx, you get suspended. End of story. That's it," Musk said before abruptly exiting the discussion.
Twitter introduced new rules for accounts tracking private jet flight information on Wednesday, including information about Musk's private jet.
Meanwhile, the Twitter account for Mastodon, a social media platform billed as a Twitter alternative, was also banned on Thursday evening.
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