Twitter a challenge for public figures and their employers
Social media can erupt in anger so quickly that offenders can lose their jobs and their reputations within hours; Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz reports.
Twitter, which has taken flak for not banning conspiracy theorist Alex Jones outright, was quick to suspend a man who is embroiled in a legal dispute with Tesla.
Martin Tripp, a former technician for Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company, was fired by Tesla earlier this year. Musk has called him a “saboteur” and his firm is suing Tripp for allegedly hacking into Tesla’s confidential information and sharing that with third parties.
According to Gizmodo, Tripp took to Twitter on Wednesday evening and began sharing what he claimed were improperly handled cooling tubes, proof of damaged battery cells and a purported listing of Teslas that he says were sold with “punctured/dented/damaged” batteries.
Tripp told the tech site late Wednesday that he was hit with a 12-hour suspension by Twitter and some of his tweets were deleted. He believes a tweet with a photo containing “an email address with Elon Musk’s name” may have been what triggered the temporary suspension.
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In a screenshot that Tripp shared with Gizmodo, the company states: “You may not publish or post other people’s private information without their express authorization and permission.”
As of Thursday afteroon, it appears that Tripp's account (@trippedover) was removed from Twitter.
Fox News reached out to Twitter for comment on this issue.
When contacted for a comment by Gizmodo, Tesla said:
"As we’ve said before, these claims are false and Mr. Tripp does not even have personal knowledge about the safety claims that he is making. No punctured cells have ever been used in any Model 3 vehicles in any way, and all VINs that have been identified have safe batteries. Notably, there have been zero battery safety issues in any Model 3."
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