Elon Musk scraps with journalist Bari Weiss – days after giving her access to his Twitter files

Journalist Bari Weiss spent Friday sparring with Twitter owner Elon Musk, days after he handed her a tranche of documents about Twitter policy which she has been publishing under the name ‘The Twitter Files’, culminating in an angry Musk accusing Weiss of ‘virtue-signaling’.

Weiss took issue with Musk’s decision on Thursday to ban several journalists from Twitter, accusing them of ‘doxxing’ him.

The former world’s richest man took issue with the journalists from CNN, The Washington Post, New York Times and other outlets reporting on his decision to block an account that tracked his private jet as it flew around the world. Musk said it was a dangerous violation of his privacy.

The journalists blocked by Musk pointed out they never revealed his address or personal information, and said Musk was being hypocritical by banning reporting on him, while promising transparency.

Weiss on Friday morning sided with the journalists, and called on Musk to reverse his decision.

Bari Weiss (left) on Friday found herself in a heated debate with her powerful backer Elon Musk (right)

‘The old regime at Twitter governed by its own whims and biases and it sure looks like the new regime has the same problem. I oppose it in both cases,’ she tweeted.

‘And I think those journalists who were reporting on a story of public importance should be reinstated.

‘I have never been swayed by the ‘Twitter is a private company’ argument. And I’m left wondering, as I wrote yesterday @TheFP, whether any unelected individual or clique should have this kind of power over the public conversation.’

She added, however, that journalists who praised Twitter’s decision to block previous users such as Donald Trump, Kanye West and Alex Jones were now complaining of censorship.

‘I don’t need to dwell on how mesmerizing it is to watch those journalists who defended—even celebrated!—Twitter’s bans under the old regime under the guise of ‘safety’ now call it censorship, and say it infringes on freedom of expression,’ she continued.

‘It did then as it does now.’

Musk – who handpicked Weiss to report on the internal workings of the company he bought – wasted no time in replying, hitting back in less than half an hour.

Elon Musk, 51, has vowed that ‘everything we find will be released’ as Twitter continues to release the files surrounding censorship on the social media platform he now owns. On Friday he found himself in an angry argument with Bari Weiss, to whom he handed the documents

‘What should the consequence of doxxing someone’s real-time, exact location be? Assume your child is at that location, as mine was,’ he tweeted.

An hour later, with no response, he tweeted at 1:36pm: ‘Bari, this is a real question, not rhetorical. What is your opinion?’

Weiss on Friday challenged her powerful backer, causing him to accuse her of ‘virtue-signaling to show that you are ‘good’ in the eyes of media elite to keep one foot in both worlds’

Still receiving no reply from Weiss, at 3:34pm he continued: ‘Rather than rigorously pursuing truth, you are virtue-signaling to show that you are ‘good’ in the eyes of media elite to keep one foot in both worlds.’

Weiss took her time to reply, responding to Musk four hours later, at 7:22pm, and attempting to assuage her powerful backer.

‘If someone messed with my baby or my family I’m sure I’d change the rules and ban the jet account, too,’ she said diplomatically.

‘But last month you said you were leaving it up to show your commitment to free speech. So doesn’t it make sense that people would be confused?

‘Given the mixed messaging, I would have given more notice on the new rule before punishing anyone for a violation. And if they violated it again? Totally fair game to take action against those accounts. But I think people object to the lack of clear process and communication.’

Weiss admitted it was complicated.

‘I don’t envy any of these decisions,’ she concluded.

‘But the problem with Old Twitter was that the rules were vague, unevenly applied, and often backfilled to suit the political prejudices of mgmt. New Twitter has an opportunity to be different: open, transparent and above the partisan fray.’