On-his-terms free speech advocate and Twitter CEO Elon Musk went on another suspension spree last week, briefly suspending the accounts of several reporters who Musk claimed were violating Twitter's terms of service as well as an account that was tweeting information about his private jet.
Musk eventually reinstated the accounts of the journalists, but was unsure of how to proceed with the status of the private jet account.
\u201cUnsuspend accounts who doxxed my exact location in real-time\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671165265
In response to Musk's turbulent actions taken upon these accounts, a Wikipedia article chronicling the events was born.
The original title of the article "Thursday Night Massacre" was supposedly named so by the author because it "was trending on Twitter after the incident and was used by several journalists to describe the event afterwards."
Musk was not amused.
He tweeted:
"A two day suspension of maybe 7 accounts for doxxing got an actual Wikipedia page!?"
"Wikipedia is controlled by the MSM journalists."
"Can't trust that site anymore."
A two day suspension of maybe 7 accounts for doxxing got an actual Wikipedia page!? Wikipedia is controlled by the MSM journalists. Can’t trust that site anymore.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2022
Wikimedia—the nonprofit organization that hosts Wikipedia—soon fired back, subtly taking a dig at the CEO by means of a message soliciting donations.
The message says:
"Please don't skip this 1 minute read."
"This Monday December 19th, we humbly ask for your support."
"We are the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia and 12 other free knowledge projects."
The message continued with a snarky reference to Musk's Twitter takeover:
"Being a nonprofit means there is no danger that someone will buy Wikipedia and turn it into their personal playground."
\u201cI gotta say Wikipedia using its fundraising box to effectively subtweet Musk Twitter is pretty funny. (And effective.)\u201d— Cat Faolain (parodies) (@Cat Faolain (parodies)) 1671308654
Others on Twitter chimed in.
\u201cI do like that Wikipedia\u2019s current donation drive message is \u201cWikipedia is not for sale. No one will ever buy it and turn it into their personal playground.\u201d Nice potshot, there.\u201d— \u2728Stephie\u2728\u301c\ud83d\udecb\ud83e\udde1\ud83d\udda4\u301c\ud83d\udc9a (@\u2728Stephie\u2728\u301c\ud83d\udecb\ud83e\udde1\ud83d\udda4\u301c\ud83d\udc9a) 1671226706
\u201cTFW you wanted to buy Wikipedia because you didn't know it is a nonprofit\u201d— steven ''italian elon musk'' monacelli (@steven ''italian elon musk'' monacelli) 1671310022
\u201c@elonmusk @neontaster @jimmy_wales Wikipedia is being run by volunteers all over the world.but Twitter is being run by one autrocratic businessman .seems like first you want to discredit wikipedia reduce their donation.when they will be unable to run you will try to buy that.\u201d— Noam Blum (@Noam Blum) 1671306054
He doesn’t realize Wikipedia is entirely run on donations. No advertisements like Twitter.
Mainstream media is “for-profit.”
— Satoshi Nakamaru (@NakamaruSatoshi) December 18, 2022
\u201c@elonmusk @neontaster @jimmy_wales Just made another donation to Wikipedia\u201d— Noam Blum (@Noam Blum) 1671306054
\u201c@lord_brouhaha @Wikipedia @elonmusk I don\u2019t get the hate.\n\nWikipedia is a FREE service that requests donations once a year -$2\n\nMusk wants you to pay $8 usd a month forTwitter.\u201d— Lord Brouhaha (@Lord Brouhaha) 1671235005
\u201c@GuyWithABoat @elonmusk @neontaster @jimmy_wales Wikipedia is free, doesn\u2019t accept advertising, sell user data, and doesn\u2019t allow opinionated editorializing. It gains nothing from alienating any subset of users because it is user funded (through voluntary donations) and only survives by reaching as many donors as possible.\u201d— Dav (@Dav) 1671348339
\u201c@gillespi @David_Leavitt @elonmusk That's pretty much why January 1st, 2023 will be my last Tweet.\nI will not help funnel advertisers to #SpaceKaren by being an active user on this platform.\nPretty good New Year's day resolution along with my annual donations to @MSF, @Wikipedia and @torproject.\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671235042
Musk did adhere to the people's vote and lifted the suspension.
\u201cThe people have spoken.\n\nAccounts who doxxed my location will have their suspension lifted now.\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671254296
Musk posted another poll yesterday.
\u201cShould I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.\u201d— Elon Musk (@Elon Musk) 1671405633
We'll see if he sticks to this outcome, as well.