Banned Twitter accounts to return
Elon Musk plans to begin reinstating suspended accounts on Twitter this week.
The social media platform’s new owner said a poll he conducted on Twitter was the grounds for his decision.
“The people have spoken,” Musk tweeted Thursday, less than a month after completing the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. “Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
The announcement is the latest move by the world’s richest man during his first weeks controlling the social media juggernaut, with Musk already reinstating the accounts of former President Donald Trump and others who had previously violated Twitter’s rules.
Musk has repeatedly pledged to prioritize free speech and transparency on his platform and has criticized Twitter’s previous suspension policies as murky and harmful to conservative viewpoints. Critics and online safety experts have predicted that Musk’s moves would supercharge online abuse, misinformation campaigns and hate speech.
Several advertisers have fled the platform after Musk’s takeover.
On Wednesday, Musk posted a poll on Twitter that asked, “Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?”
The poll reported more than 3 million votes, with 72.4% of participants saying yes and 27.6% voting no. Such polls are known to be unreliable, though, and experts say they can be heavily influenced by bots. Musk himself acknowledged that bots had been voting in his poll over whether to reinstate Trump’s account.
It is not clear how many accounts will be restored or how Twitter will filter out illegal or spam content. Musk said last month he would create a “content moderation council” before allowing back banned accounts, but there is no indication such a group has been formed.
Musk’s ownership has also prompted multiple waves of cuts and resignations, with reported staffing figures plummeting by 66% in the past month.
The San Francisco social network had roughly 7,500 employees when Musk bought it, but that number is down to 2,750 people, according to Bloomberg. Thousands of contractors were also laid off.
Supporters cheered the return of Trump to Twitter last weekend, while critics denounced it. Trump has yet to post a tweet since being unbanned, and his last message is from Jan. 8, 2021, in the wake of the Capitol riot.
Musk also tweeted the phrase “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” after Trump’s reinstatement, using a Latin term meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
Musk has also reinstated the account of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who used the platform to refer to San Francisco state Sen. Scott Wiener with an antigay slur.