Investigative journalist Jacqueline Sweet’s story debunking a conspiracy theory that billionaire Elon Musk praised himself using a fake social media account got her banned from X — raising questions of whether Musk is selectively enforcing the rules.
Sweet, a freelancer from Suffolk County who covers local and international issues for many publications, is no stranger to controversy, having been doxxed — the term for internet trolls exposing an individual’s personal details online — after she angered supporters of expelled Republican ex-congressman and convicted felon George Santos. But despite X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, not helping her when she was doxxed, the company cited its rules against doxxing as the reason for banning her — while she maintains her story contained only publicly available information.
