> Tweets that share someone else’s historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by this policy.
Seems like the rules would allow journalists to share a story reporting if Elon Musk visited any Saudi creditors, but if they include the location of the meeting in their reporting then they wouldn’t be allowed to post it on Twitter until after the meeting.
According to these rules journalists are no longer allowed to publicly share information about Elon going to visit his Saudi creditors since it's wont be public event. Nice!
"live location information, including information shared on Twitter directly or links to 3rd-party URL(s) of travel routes, actual physical location, or other identifying information that would reveal a person’s location, regardless if this information is publicly available;"
Posting links to other websites that may enable sharing Elon's location is now a bannable offense.
As far as I’m aware, journalists were only referencing ElonJet, which, as OP established, is only re-publishing already public information.
Despite this, even if you want to somehow argue that it’s against the rules, I reject that claim as well. Twitter’s policies[1] explicitly allow “location information related to commercial property or places of business, where this information is publicly available,” and all of “Elon’s” jets are owned by commercial entities.
Edit: citations showing “his” jets are owned by an LLC:
twitter policy talks about private information, but they seem to also take issue with public information (which is made somewhat more accessible if put into a tweet but still was public before.
edit: seems to be as exploitable as ChatGPT (except from getting banned anyways because of no oversight ;) ) "What is not a violation of this policy?": Gossip, rumours, accusations, and allegations ---- so just preface the flight data info of Elon Musk with "I heard a drunkard say in my tavern that Sir Elon is at 49°21'43''W 38°20'59'N just recently
>"Don't publish someone's location in realtime (24 hour delay is required)" seems like a simple rule that can be enforced even-handedly against both sides.
He posted a real-time photo of X at twitter HQ like two weeks ago. And then a picture of him getting his badge.
Should Elon suspend his own account for doing that?
I don’t like inconsistency either. The policy is fairly clear. If Musk or another person on Twitter is revealing someone else’s location and Twitter is not applying the policy consistently please provide supporting evidence of this.
It's at the very least Musk's explanation. Lorenz's tweet with her offsite links predates the new policy; if they're related, the policy was a retroactive explanation similar to how they made up the "no real-time location" policy after banning @elonjet.
>Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.
Before ElonJet was suspended their pinned tweet pointed out that Twitter's acceptable use policy was that it was ok to republish data generally available elsewhere - which is exactly what this is. It would be illegal to operate the jet and not publish its location.
I think it's more than fair for him to publish the information... that said, it's also okay for Elon to ban doing such things on Twitter.
It comes down to ease of access, motivation and intent... In the end, Elon doesn't want third parties to disclose the location details of other people. I'm not sure if this would include posting a selfie at a disclosed location with a celebrity in the background.
In the end, I think the message is pretty clear, "don't f*ck with Elon's family."
It is also at the same time contrary to everything he‘s said before about how he would run twitter - hell, he called this account out specifically as one he would not ban because he is oh so committed to free speech.
It will also not be enforced against anyone except if you‘re sharing the location of Elon, of a billionaire buddy of his, or kick up enough of a stink that it‘s a PR issue.
I posted that deliberately without comment. I think it stands on its own as something people should reflect on when forming their opinion of the current situation, and thought that adding commentary would only muddy the perception of it.
I definitely did not intend it to be imagined with a troll face meme.
But since you asked my opinion, I’ll post it and people can judge it separately to the tweet.
I actually do agree with the idea that you shouldn’t post the whereabouts of people, even celebrities, if they’re not at public events - even if the information is technically public. That seems like a reasonable rule.
It’s the capriciousness and lack of concern for consistency - the seeming knee-jerk, ad hoc decision making - that is so frustrating. (And that many of the people defending it are the same people who perceived old Twitter to be capricious - but that’s another digression.)
I believe that rule-making (and enforcing) for something like Twitter requires more consistency, more deliberation, and more decorum than is currently being presented. I am afraid that this is not in Musk’s nature, and afraid about what the consequences of that will be.
I think the tweet I quoted, combined with knowledge of the current situation, is evidence for all of that.
Other commentators are pointing out the potential for future abuse from this policy. I'm interested in how this is targeted against @elonjet, the account dedicated to posting public information available about Elon's flights.
There are such rules in place for Elon Musk specifically as a result of a settlement with the SEC, but he ignores them.
(The rule he's ignoring is not that he's not allowed to tweet about Tesla from his personal accout, it's that he has to have such tweets vetted by a lawyer.)
That doesn’t make sense, there are legit reasons to report location, there cannot be a blanket policy like this. It needs to be handled on a case by case basis if it gets reported. Problem is, musk is figuring out how to create and run a social media company on the fly and in full public view. He need not have stopped to this but his ego and seemingly infantile need for attention has blinded his judgement. He is still good enough and Twitter still really strong as a brand to survive this all.
Seems like the rules would allow journalists to share a story reporting if Elon Musk visited any Saudi creditors, but if they include the location of the meeting in their reporting then they wouldn’t be allowed to post it on Twitter until after the meeting.
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