Twitter Suspends Journalist for Alleged Policy Breach - Internet Tweets its Fury

My colleague Amber Rinehard posted a discussion thread on Twitter's recent suspension of journalist Guy Adam's Twitter account at Text100's LinkedIn Communication Conversation.  Adams was a vocal critic  of NBC's Olympics coverage, and was apparently suspended for tweeting the email address of NBC's Olympics President Gary Zenkel.

A nice summary from GigaOm here. I've dived into the discussion and my thoughts follow...

Not being a lawyer, difficult to offer feedback on whether or not Twitter acted within its guidelines in suspending Adams, nor whether or not Adams acted legally in publishing Zenkel's email address. He claimed it is publicly available, but Search Engine Land disputes this here.

But that's in the past. While the interwebs are a-buzz over this one, it does seem to show Twitter acting against type, having previously stood up for freedom of expression. Especially muddy given its commercial relationship with NBC. Muddier still as it is now rumoured that Twitter brought the offending tweet to NBC's attention and gave them instructions for how to complain.

Given that Zenkel's email address is now certainly in the public domain, will Twitter take action against the Spartacus-like retweeters? It's set itself a nasty precedent, especially as it hasn't taken this type of action before.

If I were Twitter, I'd use this as a catalyst for a wider - and overdue - discussion. While NBC won't relent on its policy of pretending the Olympics is happening in US prime time, some good could come of this. Perhaps host a post-Olympics Twitter forum whereby interested parties could examine Twitter's role in society. It's a private company after all, and can set its own rule. It's also, though, a company whose function (and criticality) has evolved dramatically since the first tweet was sent.

Forbes also presents an interesting POV here.

If you've got an opinion, feel free to leave a comment or join the Text100's Communication Conversation here.

Photo Credit: Celeste343, Dead Bird