The accounts of Ryan Mack of the New York Times, Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN and Matt Binder of the news site Mashable were blocked by Twitter. The registration of the independent journalist Aaron Rooper, as well as the social network Mastodon, was also frozen, Reuters reported.

It's yet another eccentric decision by Twitter, which comes hours after billionaire Elon Musk's recently purchased network deleted the @elonjet account that tracked his private jet's journeys in real-time using publicly available data, even threatening the account's owner with court.

The blocks seem more than odd given Musk's promises that Twitter will respect free speech. Musk, for example, restored the profile of former President Donald Trump, who was blocked by Twitter for his actions surrounding the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

"I hope my worst critics stay on Twitter, because that's what freedom of speech is all about," Musk said in April 2020.

"The blocking of the Twitter accounts of a number of prominent journalists, including that of Ryan Mack of The New York Times, is controversial and inappropriate. Neither Ryan nor The New York Times has received an explanation as to why. We hope that the accounts of all journalists be restored and Twitter to provide a satisfactory explanation for its actions," said a spokesman for the "New York Times", quoted by BTA.

CNN defines the blocking of profiles in the social network as "impulsive and unjustified" actions. The television network has asked Twitter for an explanation, and its future relationship with the social network will depend on the response it receives.

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