‘Free-speech champion’ Musk slammed for banning journalist for sharing 'hacked' Vance dossier
File photo of Elon Musk.
Self-styled free speech champion, X owner Elon Musk, on Thursday (Sep 26) came under fire for suspending a journalist’s account for posting a document allegedly hacked by Iran. Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein shared a 271-page research file on former United States President Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, which allegedly had been hacked by Iranian actors to influence US presidentialelections.
Klippenstein’s account was soon suspended by X for violating the platform’s hacked materials policy. The policy had been in place before Musk bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion. The company later made changes to its policy saying it will no longer remove hacked content unless it is directly shared by hackers or those acting in concert with them.
Klippenstein had shared the document on his personal Substack, writing, "The dossier has been offered to me and I've decided to publish it because it's of keen public interest in an election season." "As far as I can tell, it hasn't been altered, but even if it was, its contents are publicly verifiable. I'll let it speak for itself," he added.
However, X in a statement said the document also included personal details about Vance, including his physical addresses.
"Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance's physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number," a spokesperson for X said in a statement.
Several users on X criticised Musk for the action, likening it to Twitter’s ban on the Hunter Biden laptop story. Several Conservatives and Republicans had then slammed Twitter for not allowing people to post the contents of the laptop story, citing Russian influence.
A Washington Post journalist Will Oremus wrote on X, “Elon Musk and Republican leaders have spent years decrying the previous Twitter regime's move to block the Hunter Biden laptop story under its hacked materials policy.
Now Musk's X is blocking the JD Vance dossier in exactly the same way. Curious how they justify this.”