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The United Nations has joined the European Union in condemning Twitter's decision to suspend some journalists who cover the social media firm.

Reporters for the New York Times, CNN and the Washington Post were among those locked out of their accounts.

The UN tweeted that media freedom is "not a toy" while the EU has threatened Twitter with sanctions.

A Twitter spokesman told a US tech news website the bans were related to the live sharing of location data.
 
Melissa Fleming, the UN's under secretary general for global communications, said she was "deeply disturbed" by reports that journalists were being "arbitrarily" suspended from Twitter.

"Media freedom is not a toy," she said. "A free press is the cornerstone of democratic societies and a key tool in the fight against harmful disinformation."
 
Earlier on Friday, EU commissioner Vera Jourova threatened Twitter with sanctions under Europe's new Digital Services Act which she said requires "the respect of media freedom and fundament rights".

"Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon," she added.

Mr Musk has not commented directly on the suspensions, but said in a tweet that "criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not".

He also tweeted that accounts which he claimed engaged in doxxing - a term to describe to the release of private information online about individuals - receive a temporary seven-day suspension.

"Same doxxing rules apply to 'journalists' as to everyone else," he added.

A spokesman for the New York Times called the suspensions "questionable and unfortunate".

The suspensions come after Mr Musk vowed to sue the owner of a profile that tracks his private jet.

He said a "crazy stalker" had used live location sharing to find and accost a vehicle carrying his children in Los Angeles.

But following the suspensions, the German Foreign Office warned Twitter that "press freedom cannot be switched on and off on a whim".