Suspension follows Musk's decision Wednesday to ban account that tracked his plane, raises questions about 'commitment to free speech'

Twitter suspended the accounts of roughly half a dozen journalists Thursday evening who have been covering the social-media platform and its new owner Elon Musk.

The accounts of Ryan Mac of the New York Times, Donie O'Sullivan of CNN, Drew Harwell of the Washington Post, Matt Binder of Mashable, Micah Lee of the Intercept as well as independent journalists Aaron Rupar, Keith Olbermann and Tony Webster had all been suspended.

The account for Mastodon, a social network widely considered to be an alternative to Twitter, also appeared to be suspended.

Neither the company nor Musk initially gave any explanation for why Twitter removed the accounts and made the reporters' past tweets disappear. Some of the journalists had written stories critical of Musk, who has repeatedly vowed to promote free speech on Twitter. Many of the accounts had tens of thousands of followers.

The sudden suspension comes a day after Musk banned an account that automatically tracked the flights of his private jet using data available to the public. In November, Musk had vowed a "commitment to free speech," which he said extended to not banning the account that tracked his plane.

Twitter also said Wednesday it was changing its rules to prohibit the sharing of another person's current location.

Several of the reporters suspended Thursday night had been writing about Twitter's new policy and Musk's rationale for imposing it, which involved his allegations about a stalking incident that affected his family on Tuesday night in Los Angeles.

Musk seemed to indicate that the suspensions stemmed from the accounts posting his "exact real-time location," though news organizations were unable to verify this allegation. He later said in a tweet that the suspensions would last seven days.

Earlier Thursday, Musk tweeted: "Same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else."

"Doxxing" is when a person discloses someone else's personal details online such as identity, address or phone number.

CNN said in a statement that "the impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN's Donie O'Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising."

"Twitter's increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern for everyone who uses Twitter," CNN's statement said. "We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will re-evaluate our relationship based on that response."

Meanwhile, Tesla stock (TSLA) has fallen over 50% year-to-date and about 19% for the month so far as concerns grow about Musk's ability to juggle both companies. In comparison, the S&P 500 is down 18% for the year, and off 4.5% for the month so far.

Now read this: Elon Musk has reportedly stopped paying rent on Twitter offices and told staff not to pay vendors