(Web Desk) - The accounts of several prominent journalists and progressive-leaning influencers were suspended by Elon Musk’s X platform on Tuesday for apparently violating X's rules.
The affected users include Ken Klippenstein, an investigative journalist who is on staff at The Intercept, and Texas Observer reporter, Steven Monacelli.
Monacelli told The Messenger that he did not receive an explanation for the suspension.
"I woke up and had missed a call from a journalist who wanted to talk to me about my suspension," he said.
"So I was informed via other journalists who had called and emailed me this morning about it."
Podcast host Rob Rousseau's account and that of the podcast TrueAnon were also temporarily suspended.
It is unclear what rule the journalists' accounts broke that led to their suspension and X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
X is a private company, and that means user accounts can be suspended at the company's discretion — but Musk has decried such moves in the past as censorship.
Yet the move also echoes of Musk's initial weeks in charge of what was then called Twitter, when he came under fire for suspending the accounts of several high-profile journalists, including Taylor Lorenz of the Washington Post, over allegations of doxxing.
The accounts were later reinstated after Musk polled Twitter users on the matter.
Aside from the journalists, some influencers also reported having their accounts suspended.
One X user that goes by the handle @Zei_squirrel, posted on Instagram about the ban and said they didn't know why they were suspended, but the user speculated their posts critical of Israel and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman may be the cause.
Ackman has recently made headlines for pressuring Harvard to clamp down on pro-Palestinian protests and for his role in the resignation of the school’s former president, Claudine Gay.
Dear @elonmusk @Support, we'd like to know why our reporter, Steven Monacelli @stevanzetti was suspended from this platform.
— Texas Observer (@TexasObserver) January 9, 2024