The Free Press editor Bari Weiss addressed the viral spat she had with Elon Musk over his decision to suspend a group of journalists for allegedly violating Twitter's updated "doxxing" policy.
Weiss, one of the first journalists to report on the Twitter Files, publicly challenged the billionaire, who had previously described himself as a free speech absolutist.
Musk took a swipe at Weiss in response, tweeting "Rather than rigorously pursuing truth, you are virtue-signaling to show that you are ‘good’ in the eyes of media elite to keep one foot in both worlds."
He then unfollowed her Twitter account.
In a Free Press forum addressing the Twitter Files, Fox News Digital asked Weiss if she and Musk were on good terms and whether they spoke about their spat off of Twitter.
"Well, we had many, many, many, many Signal exchanges over the course of those weeks. Everyone saw everything play out in public," Weiss responded Wednesday. "People saw his response to me, they saw that he unfollowed me, they saw that he unfollowed The Free Press. What I'll say is that life is long and I regard Elon Musk is one of the most interesting people in the world right now. And the story of what he'll do at the helm of Twitter is one that I'm extraordinarily fascinated in."
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Weiss continued, "And I knew that in saying something publicly that I might piss him off and that he very well could take away access from our sort of portion of that smelly conference room that I mentioned before. And that is what happened and, you know, you make calls and I felt that it was really important not to pull that punch."
The last time Weiss reported on the Twitter Files was Dec. 12. Her spat with Musk took place four days later.
In response to Fox News Digital, Weiss said she would not classify her access to the Twitter Files as being "revoked" but said "It was clear, though, that I personally wasn’t going to have the same access internally" after her spat with Musk.
Twitter did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Musk had benched several users amplifying the movements of his private jet, which critics pointed out was public information. The "doxxing" policy was put in place after Musk said a plane that had his son on it was followed by a "crazy stalker."
Among the journalists suspended from Twitter at the time included CNN correspondent Donie O'Sullivan, New York Times technology reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, The Intercept journalist Micah Lee, VOA correspondent Steve Herman, Mashable writer Matt Binder, former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann and former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar.
"The old regime at Twitter governed by its own whims and biases and it sure looks like the new regime has the same problem," Weiss tweeted. "I oppose it in both cases. And I think those journalists who were reporting on a story of public importance should be reinstated."
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Musk fired back at Weiss, saying "What should the consequence of doxxing someone’s real-time, exact location be? Assume your child is at that location, as mine was."
Weiss later responded, "If someone messed with my baby or my family I’m sure I’d change the rules and ban the jet account, too. But last month you said you were leaving it up to show your commitment to free speech. So doesn’t it make sense that people would be confused?" She continued, "Given the mixed messaging, I would have given more notice on the new rule before punishing anyone for a violation. And if they violated it again? Totally fair game to take action against those accounts. But I think people object to the lack of clear process and communication."
Amid intense backlash, Musk ultimately restored the accounts.
On Wednesday's forum, The Free Press writer (and Weiss' wife) Nellie Bowles defended the stance, saying "you don't want to be in anyone's pocket."
"If Elon is going to govern Twitter in a way that is focused on free speech and focused on righting some of these wrongs and fulfilling the rhetoric that he says that I really agree with a lot of ways and I want to see him live up to it," Bowles said. "And I think we deserve that. We deserve a platform that is open and honest and that allows critics and that allows even, even the jerkiest the jerks who are some of the people he banned that night to be on the platform. And if he's going to decide that something like his jet tracker is suddenly verboten, that should be done in a thoughtful way. I feel really good about it. I think it is what it is. He had to like you had to be criticized for that."
"I'll say just even from a strategic perspective, you know, the people that he was kicking off Twitter that night, which he's later reversed and that was a great thing, you know, he was murdering a bunch of a--h---s!" Weiss exclaimed.
"The worst part of it all," Bowles joked.
"These are people who are major bullies… but it's like so what, a principle is a principle," Weiss added.
Substack writer and fellow Twitter Files reporter Michael Shellenberger chimed in by dispelling the notion that they were "buds" with Musk after he granted them access to Twitter's archives, saying "that wasn't how anybody of us, any of us thought of it."
"We were pretty clear, like we're going in and we're gonna try to get the information out because we're greedy journalists. Like we're trying to be journalists here. And then when he does something we don't like, criticize that," Shellenberger said.
