Elon Musk’s Twitter suspended the account of rising social media platform Mastodon on Thursday — the same day Twitter restricted the profiles of prominent tech journalists who have unflatteringly reported on the billionaire’s chaotic leadership of the company.
Twitter didn’t explain the reason for the suspension, but it may be connected to an earlier Mastodon tweet about @elonjet — a now-suspended Twitter account that tracks the location of Musk’s private jet, according to The Verge. The tweet in question appears to prompt users to follow @elonjet on Mastodon, according to an archived version captured by Wayback Machine.
Mastodon did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Twitter suspended the @elonjet account and issued an update to its policies restricting the sharing of someone’s live location, citing “an increased risk of physical harm.”
“Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended,” the company said Wednesday.
Earlier Thursday, Twitter was widely criticized for suspending the accounts of The New York Times’ Ryan Mac, The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell, CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, Mashable’s Matt Binder and independent journalist Aaron Rupar.
Mastodon has gained momentum since Musk took over Twitter in October and plunged the platform into shambles, firing half the staff and upending policies against misinformation and hate speech.
Mastodon, a decentralized social media platform founded in 2016, allows users to build their own timeline — based on chronological order and not algorithms. It’s a nonprofit and doesn’t rely on ads. Its software is free and open-source.
The European Commission has warned that sanctions could be on the way for Musk’s company.
