The German government on Friday criticized Twitter for blocking the accounts of several journalists and stressed the importance of defending press freedom.
The German Foreign Ministry has thus pointed out on its Twitter account that «freedom of the press should not be turned off and on at will» and has stated that some journalists «can no longer follow as of today» the account of the Ministry itself.
«They can no longer follow us, comment on us or criticize us, so we have a problem,» he has indicated before adding a series of images showing the suspended accounts of these journalists.
The German government’s criticism comes after Twitter blocked journalists belonging to some major U.S. media outlets after they allegedly violated the platform’s terms of use by revealing personal information about the company’s now owner, Elon Musk.
Specifically, journalists belonging to media outlets such as ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Washington Post’ or CNN have denounced the blocking of their accounts. During the day on Wednesday, Musk reported that Twitter would suspend any account that provided real-time location information about any person, claiming that it is «a violation of the security» of such subjects. This ban also included posting links to sites with real-time location information.
«Criticizing me all day is fine, but posting my real-time locations and endangering my family is not,» the platform owner stated in a tweet after some journalists broadcast the location of his private plane.
