Sean Plunket, the founder of online news site The Platform and a well-known broadcaster in New Zealand, has had his Twitter permanently suspended with supporters calling on Twitter boss Elon Musk to reinstate his account.

The suspension appears to be related to Twitter's privacy and "hateful conduct" rules. Screenshots shared by trans activists online show that Twitter's privacy rules had been utilised to flag Plunket's account down.

WOW! @SeanPlunket is the only accredited journalist on New Zealand’s parliamentary press gallery who asks any tough questions.@elonmusk, surely this is a mistake?

Obviously the rainbow army has mass reported his account.

Twitter better not let the bullies win. https://t.co/bYPSzIu1jG

— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) April 3, 2023

When asked about the suspension by left-wing outlet Stuff, Plunket said he had no idea why he was suspended and claimed it was likely prompted by complaints from the "anti-women brigade." He described the protests against women's rights advocate Kellie-Jay Keen, also known as Posie Parker, as "mob rule" and the cancellation of Parker's events as "a victory for cancel culture and bullies in the trans and gay communities."

Plunket, a veteran press gallery reporter, this week created worldwide headlines when he asked NZ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to define "what is a woman" which left the caretaker PM lost for words.

#BREAKING: New Zealand PM left SPEECHLESS when asked by seasoned reporter @SeanPlunket to define what a woman is.@elonmusk, Sean is the last real journalist left in the Kiwi press gallery, yet Twitter suspended him today after the alphabet mafia tricked the algorithm. pic.twitter.com/uJxVbHEh1x

— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) April 3, 2023

The permanent suspension appears to be cumulative effort by opponents mass reporting tweets to trigger Twitter's automated systems into banning the account.

Sean Plunket was mass reported by activists for reporting on their activities. Please fix this, @ellagirwin

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) April 3, 2023

Plunket expressed his disappointment with the suspension, calling it "another victory for free speech" on his Facebook page.