X may be all about free speech, but it recently suspended a journalist's account, particularly with the incident brought by Ken Klippenstein when he posted sensitive personal information of a U.S. politician. More particularly, Klippenstein was said to have included on his post-Senator J.D. Vance's physical address and other private personal information, hence the strike.
This took place after Senator Vance's recent dossier was leaked by unknown hackers and shared with several news outlets, with the Republican presidential candidate previously blaming Iran for the illegal access.
X Suspends Ken Klippenstein After Posting Sen. J.D. Vance's Personal Info
Ken Klippenstein's X account is now suspended by the platform after the journalist posted Senator J.D. Vance's personal information online, with X claiming that the account violated its rules.
In a follow-up statement made by X Safety, the social media denounces Klippenstein's act, which further shared Sen. Vance's 'unredacted' private information, which was evident on the post.
Klippenstein was regarded to be among the journalists who received the leaked copy of the dossier of Republican candidate J.D. Vance, who was subjected to a recent hack where their files were stolen. It was revealed by Engadget that other news outlets avoided sharing his personal information online, but Klippenstein posted it, claiming it was 'newsworthy.'
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Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance’s physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number.
— Safety (@Safety) September 26, 2024
Dossier Leak: Trump Accuses Iran Of 'Hacking' Their Files
Vance's dossier leak contained his physical address and the last four numbers of his social security number, with the other parts of it being redacted by Klippenstein. It was revealed that Trump previously accused the Iranian government of hacking into their files and leaking the dossier last June.
With X suspending him, Klippenstein posted Vance's dossier on his Substack and other social media accounts.
X's Account Suspensions and Content Moderation
Since 2022, Elon Musk faced massive controversies when he took over Twitter (now X) because of his massive beliefs in free speech and was said to be leaning into far-right ideologies for the platform. Musk and X were heavily criticized for their lackluster content moderation, which allowed its users to exercise their freedom, which led to infamously losing advertisers because of anti-semitic propaganda.
However, to regain the lost partner companies advertising on X, Elon Musk and the company looked into expanding its content moderation efforts in the platform earlier this year, beginning with a hiring spree for monitoring the social media.
That being said, the tech billionaire and his social media platform also gained a notorious status with Brazil earlier this year when it ignored Justice Alexandre de Moraes' order to block certain accounts, upholding the Brazilian's rights to free speech.
In this latest development, X is turning to a new light for its content moderation and account suspensions with the recent suspension of the journalist responsible for leaking sensitive information on its platform. X shows that it does not tolerate leaking personal information online despite being released as news, especially for a prominent personality running for the Vice Presidential office.
Related Article: X Transparency Report Details Content Moderation, Suspensions; The First Since Musk's Takeover
