New Delhi: With Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter there is much buzz about banned accounts, such as that of Donald Trump and Kangana Ranaut, being reinstated. But it does not seem likely anytime soon.
Less than a day after the deal the billionaire entrepreneur tweeted that no policies at Twitter have been changed, and no accounts will be reinstated before a council convened to discuss content moderation.
Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.
No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022
He added, “To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies.”
To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies https://t.co/k4guTsXOIu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 29, 2022
Twitter had banned Trump in 2021 following clashes in Capitol Hill and possible incitements caused by Trump’s tweeting.
Ranaut was banned in 2021 as well following repeated violations of Twitter policy and for posting a ‘hateful’ video.
Many have celebrated Musk taking over Twitter including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who hoped for better fact checking and a lack of “government pressure” on content moderation.
Congrats @elonmusk.
I hope @Twitter will now act against hate speech, fact check more robustly, and will no longer stifle the opposition’s voice in India due to government pressure. pic.twitter.com/j2unZeYYj6
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) October 28, 2022
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Musk’s promises
In the run up to Musk finally purchasing the social media platform, Musk had said he would be reversing the decision to ban Trump from the platform forever.
The decision to ban Trump from the site had been made by Twitter’s then head for legal, and policy Vijaya Gadde who received flak for the decision with Musk himself hinting that Gadde represents “Twitter’s left wing bias”.
Gadde was among the top executives Musk fired immediately after he became the new owner. Others included CEO Parag Agrawal who had only held the post for less than a year and CFO Ned Segal.
Musk has earlier said he is a “free speech absolutist” which has raised concerns that Twitter under Musk will allow all and any speech on the platform.
Starlink has been told by some governments (not Ukraine) to block Russian news sources. We will not do so unless at gunpoint.
Sorry to be a free speech absolutist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2022
However in a tweet addressed to advertisers Musk said that while he wants Twitter to be “warm and welcoming to all”, it cannot be a place that is a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences”.
Dear Twitter Advertisers pic.twitter.com/GMwHmInPAS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 27, 2022
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
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