Elon Musk has started to reinstate Twitter accounts that had been banned for life, taking the first steps towards his promise of lighter moderation on the platform. The next could be Donald Trump.
On his personal Twitter account, Musk said controversial Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson and right-wing satirical site Babylon Bee, who had both been banned from the platform, would have their accounts restored. He added that comedian Kathy Griffin, who was suspended from the platform earlier this month for impersonating Musk, would have her account restored.
Reinstating accounts that were ousted for violating Twitter’s content moderation rules is a core policy of Elon Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist”. The next account to be restored could also be that of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump could soon return to Twitter
Observers have been closely watching Musk’s strategy on whether the billionaire will reinstate Trump, who was banned for instigating a mob’s attack on the US Capitol last year seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Elon Musk has launched a poll on Twitter, asking his followers to vote on whether or not former US President Donald Trump’s account will be reinstated on the platform. The first results show that around 55% of them voted yes. The survey is not yet complete, but everything suggests that the final result will be positive. ” Vox Populi vox dei “, then tweeted Musk, a Latin phrase that roughly means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
The restoration of several accounts that had been banned in recent years does not mean that all will be entitled to the same redemption. Indeed, one Twitter user asked Musk to “ bring back alex jones “, to which Musk replied with a firm” Nope “. As a reminder, Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist and denier of the Sandy Hook school shooting, who was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018 for “abusive behavior”.