Musk To Reinstate Suspended Twitter Accounts

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Facts

  • On Thursday, Elon Musk announced a "general amnesty" for suspended Twitter accounts, which will see blocked users reinstated as early as next week.
  • This comes as Musk polled his followers on Wednesday, asking whether accounts that haven't "broken the law or engaged in egregious spam" should be reinstated. Around 72% of respondents voted yes.
  • It also came a week after Musk reinstated some previously suspended accounts, including those of former US Pres. Donald Trump, the satirical website Babylon Bee, and comedian Kathy Griffin.
  • The new Twitter owner tweeted in October that he would form a content moderation council “with widely diverse viewpoints” and that no big content decisions or account reinstatements would happen without the input of the council.
  • Musk has previously said he disagreed with Twitter’s policy of permanent bans and tweeted last week that its new policy will be to demonetize rather than ban users who post negative or hate tweets.

Sources: Guardian, CBS, Reuters, Al Jazeera, and CNN.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by Vox. Musk's brief few weeks as Twitter's CEO have been overwhelmingly marked by chaos. While he claims that this "general amnesty" will improve freedom of speech on the platform, it will really just give a wider platform to dangerous conspiracy theorists and allow for hate speech to run unchecked.
  • Right narrative, as provided by GIS Reports. While Musk may be making questionable choices for his business, he's undeniably protecting free speech. A strong democracy can withstand untrue opinions and outlandish comments without falling apart, and tech companies don't need to police the speech of their users.