CNN’s Jim Acosta appears to be the latest in a growing list of journalists whose Twitter accounts have been restricted during a flurry of changes overseen by CEO Elon Musk.
In an interview with Insider columnist Linette Lopez, whose Twitter account has been suspended, Acosta said his account was locked overnight after he promoted his accounts on other social media platforms, including Post and Mastodon.
“One of my tweets was found to have violated Twitter’s new rule about promoting other sites,” he said, adding later that he is “still trying to sort it out.”
“I’m still trying to sort it out.” CNN Anchor Jim Acosta reveals his Twitter account has been locked. (Video: CNN) pic.twitter.com/MI0Lk6eKvB
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) December 19, 2022
Acosta, who made a name for himself during the last administration clashing with former President Donald Trump, was referring to a new policy that was established as users shared links to their accounts on other social media sites during a turbulent time for Twitter under Musk’s leadership.
“We recognize that many of our users are active on other social media platforms. However, we will no longer allow free promotion of certain social media platforms on Twitter,” Twitter support said Sunday.
“Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post,” the account added.
Acosta’s Twitter user name takes advertising other social media platforms to another level, as it was changed to: “Jim Acosta is also on Post and Mastodon.”
Another policy change last week entailed banning users from sharing or posting links to real-time location information. A handful of journalists, among others, were suspended in that crackdown.
Among them was CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, who like the others was reinstated after Musk conducted a public poll, but he said on Saturday he was not allowed to tweet again unless he takes down a post about an account that tracked Musk’s private jet. CNN said it would “reevaluate” its relationship with Twitter depending on the explanation given for the suspensions.
The Daily Wire reached out to Twitter asking for comment in response to Acosta and Lopez who said her account is still suspended and has not heard anything from the social media company. There is some history between Musk and Lopez, who investigated him and his other businesses over the years. In 2018, Musk accused Lopez of writing “false articles” about one of his other companies, Tesla.
Musk seems to be having second thoughts about the way in which he’s implemented policy tweaks at Twitter.
In a series of tweets Sunday, he conceded, “Casually sharing occasional links is fine, but no more relentless advertising of competitors for free, which is absurd in the extreme,” and then said, “Policy will be adjusted to suspending accounts only when that account’s *primary* purpose is promotion of competitors, which essentially falls under the no spam rule.”
Musk followed with another tweet that said: “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.”
The “Chief Twit” then shared a poll asking users to vote on whether he should step down as head of Twitter. “I will abide by the results of this poll,” Musk said. The poll, which after two hours had more than 5 million votes, is scheduled to end early Monday morning.