Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein’s X account was suspended after publishing a leaked dossier on Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance.
In a Substack post titled “Read the JD Vance Dossier,” Klippenstein claimed the document, which appears to be written by the Trump campaign for internal purposes, came from “an alleged Iranian government hack.”
Lauren Frost, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, did not confirm to Klippenstein if the dossier was part of the data allegedly stolen by Iran.
“This is not the Steele Dossier of 2016, with its golden showers and anti-Trump fanfiction,” Klippenstein wrote. “Unlike the Steele Dossier, which was both fraudulent and discredited, the Vance Dossier is factual and intelligently written.”
He added: “The document is clearly newsworthy, providing Republican Party and conservative doctrine insight into what the Trump campaign perceives to be Vance’s liabilities and weaknesses. Those perceptions provide clues about what a campaign of remarkably little substance might actually think.”
Shortly after Klippenstein, whose past work has appeared in The Intercept, The Nation and The Young Turks, shared the post to his half-million followers on X, his account was suspended. just tried to click on Ken’s profile pic.twitter.com/sq8VyN98l9
— murray (@youngcopernicus) September 26, 2024
While many users criticized X owner Elon Musk for seemingly disallowing free speech, others pointed out that Klippenstein essentially doxxed Vance by publishing the dossier, which includes the candidate’s personal information.
“There have been two assassination attempts on his running mates [sic] life and you published his address,” author Ryan James Girdusky wrote on X. “Seriously @SubstackInc, how do you allow this. His account should be taken down and banned for life.”
Other users pointed out that they could not send the link to Klippenstein’s post via X DMs or share the link in a post.
In a screenshot shared by one X user, the platform issued the following explanation for not allowing the post to be shared: “We can’t complete this request because this link has been identified by X or our partners as being potentially harmful.”
Prominent figures on X appeared divided over the suspension of Klippenstein’s account. X/Twitter whatever suspending Ken Klippenstein makes absolutely no sense. He didn't post anything on this platform that violated any rules and he's a journalist. If simply reporting on hacked materials is a violation, most media outlets need to be suspended. Ken Klippenstein just published the Iranian dossier on JD Vance, which includes his private personal details, personal phone numbers, family details and more under the guise of “journalism.”
— Lee Fang (@lhfang) September 26, 2024
Klippenstein doxxed JD Vance.
Publishing information from a foreign adversary that was… pic.twitter.com/Hccb8SEO8r
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) September 26, 2024 It was clearly wrong of this platform to suspend Ken Klippenstein for sharing the Vance Dossier. This is the exact kind of censorship that the right complained about when it was done to The New York Post. Apparently Ken Klippenstein was permanently suspended on X for posting the leaked dossier on JD Vance?
— Robby Soave (@robbysoave) September 26, 2024
How is this any different than when Twitter suppressed Hunter’s laptop four years ago, claiming that it was “leaked material” ?
— Nicholas J. Fuentes (@NickJFuentes) September 26, 2024 Everybody who screamed about the Hunter Biden laptop story being censored on social media is flipping out over the Ken Klippenstein ban right??? JD Vance’s family was doxxed by a far-left blogger today amid active assassination threats to Republican candidates
— Secular Talk🎙 (@KyleKulinski) September 26, 2024
Doxxing has always been a TOS violation and should be opposed resoundingly
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 26, 2024 Hey, @elonmusk, assclown, "free speech absolutist," you just banned Ken Klippenstein for printing the amazingly boring JD Vance dossier like a "free speech absolutist" would
Take a break from eating pets or whatever you do for fun and man up, Mr Soft As Church Music, and…
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 26, 2024 Holy shit. X just banned @kenklippenstein for publishing the JD Vance dossier.
I was just on his account reading it... and it's gone.
— Cassandra MacDonald (@CassandraRules) September 26, 2024
“If he had redacted the personal information, then I wouldn’t see any issue,” said author and pundit Mike Cernovich. “In times like these, you shouldn’t upload unredacted documents containing personal information. ‘But people can still find it,’ doesn’t really fly.”
"The JD Vance dossier only makes him more likable and it shows how out of touch the people who wrote it are," he added in a separate post. "They didn’t want him chosen because he’s 'anti-interventionist.' The enemy is still inside the tent. They want Trump gone, so they can take over again."
