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It more and more appears like Elon Musk is suspending Twitter customers primarily based on private grudges as a substitute of concrete rules. The most recent sufferer: Insider columnist Linette Lopez, who has spent years aggressively masking Musk’s companies, together with documenting alleged security lapses at Tesla.
In 2018, Musk disputed Lopez’s reporting, claiming that she had written “a number of false articles” and suggesting, with scant proof‚ that she had bribed a former Tesla worker for data and was secretly “serving as an inside buying and selling supply for considered one of Tesla’s greatest short-sellers.”
“Have you ever ever heard something extra ridiculous,” she mentioned on Friday of the allegations, laughing. “What a frickin’ fantasy.”
Lopez instructed The Every day Beast she obtained no rationalization for her suspension, nor details about how lengthy the ban will final. She mentioned she hadn’t tweeted particulars in regards to the location of Musk’s non-public jet—his acknowledged rationale for different suspensions—however as a substitute had been cataloging what she thought-about his hypocrisy over doxxing and concentrating on non-public residents.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to spotlight the truth that he talks about bullying and doxxing and all these items…And he’s a professional at it,” she mentioned. “He harassed me again in 2018, he talked shit about me within the courtroom of regulation, he sued my supply. Like, I have been via the ringer with this man. Nothing he does surprises me.”
Musk banned a number of outstanding accounts over the previous week, beginning with the @Elonjet airplane tracker. He then moved onto journalists who had coated the controversy, together with New York Instances reporter Ryan Mac, a former goal of his ire.
In 2018, whereas working at BuzzFeed, Mac revealed emails from Musk by which the billionaire baselessly accused a British man working to rescue Thai youngsters caught in a cave of being a “little one rapist.” Musk claimed the emails have been off the document, however Mac by no means agreed to these phrases.
Musk didn't instantly reply to The Every day Beast’s request for remark.