Following CEO Elon Musk's clash with journalists, Twitter temporarily removed its Spaces function entirely.
Musk said late Thursday night that Twitter was fixing an old bug. He added that the audio service "should be working tomorrow."
By Friday afternoon, Twitter Spaces has returned, according to The Verge. The staff of the news outlet was able to test if it is working again.
Elon Musk Suspended Journalists' Twitter Account
On Thursday, Twitter's CEO suspended a number of journalists including those from CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, among others. The suspension was allegedly disclosing the location of his private jet.
The journalists were covering the banning of the @ElonJet Twitter account and they reportedly shared the live location data of the jet.
With this, Buzzfeed's Katie Notopoulos started a Twitter Space. During the audio call, it was discovered that the banned journalists could still speak.
After the call accumulated thousands of listeners, Twitter's CEO joined the Spaces audio call. He was questioned about the ban on journalists. He gave the same general "you dox, you get suspended" answer to all of them.
According to the journalists, they had not posted any real-time flight data, as Musk alleged. However, by that time, the CEO already quit the call.
Then, shortly thereafter, the Spaces function was shut off for everyone, according to Mashable.
According to a tweet by Notopoulos, Twitter Spaces went offline while the session was still ongoing, disconnecting everyone.
As per Buzzfeed News, Twitter did not respond or issue a comment about Spaces disappearance.
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Twitter Senior Software Engineer Suggests that Spaces' Removal is Done Deliberately
As mentioned earlier, when asked about the glitches on Spaces, Musk responded that the team handling the function is fixing a Legacy bug.
However, on Friday, Leah Culver, a senior software engineer on Twitter's Spaces team, tweeted that the function had been "taken offline," implying that the action was done deliberately.
Culver tweeted: "Sorry about Spaces being taken offline." Moreover, she added that she was not personally involved in the decision.
The banning of journalists as well as the sudden removal of Spaces has led to even more derision toward Musk. As Twitter CEO, he has enacted inconsistent policies and fired employees crucial to content moderation.
In addition to these, he reinstated accounts that were previously suspended on Twitter for hate speech.
Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, he insisted that the social media platform would be a haven of free speech absolutism. This led to a rise in the level of hate speech on the platform.
However, despite his claims, he has quashed accounts making fun of him. He also fired employees who are critical of him on the platform.
Just recently, he banned an account tracking his private jet. This is despite having previously stated he would not ban it.
According to Bloomberg, the bans on journalists have set alarm bells ringing among European Union regulators and politicians.
With this, they warned that Twitter will have to tread carefully once new rules on digital content and media freedom take effect in the coming months.
According to European Commission Vice President Vera Jourova, the arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying.
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