Revises to reflect Musk's denial that he made the decision to reactivate West's Twitter account.
This is the second big decision of Elon Musk, the new boss of Twitter (TWTR). Or at least that's what many people thought.
After firing CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives in the early hours of his reign, the whimsical and charismatic entrepreneur continues to make his mark on social media without delay.
Twitter on Oct. 9 had suspended Kanye West's account for antisemitic tweets he'd issued. On Friday West's account became viewable again, giving rise to reports that Musk had lifted the suspension on the account of the rapper and businessman West, now known as Ye.
But the question of who lifted the suspension on the account remains open.
Musk said in a tweet that the decision to restore Ye's account was made by Twitter without consulting him.
"Ye’s account was restored by Twitter before the acquisition. They did not consult with or inform me," the billionaire said when asked by a user.
The problem with this line of defense is that Musk closed the deal for Twitter late on Oct. 27 and the musician's account was not visible on Twitter until Oct. 28.
By comparison, the account of former President Donald Trump, @RealDonaldTrump, banned after the events of January 6, 2021, on Capitol Hill, is still not visible.
A search by The Street led to a screen reading "Account Suspended."
Musk Against Permanent Ban
Musk has criticized the ban and has said he will reinstate Trump once he owns the company. Musk, who is also in charge of SpaceX, the rocket company, believes that nearly all opinions are welcome, as long as they do not break the law.
But he somewhat toned down his position on Oct 27. .
"Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!" he wrote to advertisers. "In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature."
But Musk has always said he's against permanent bans on the microblogging platform.
The billionaire said on Oct. 28 that he would set up a content moderation council and that no decision will be made on a banned account until this council is convened.
"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," he tweeted.
West has not posted any recent tweets.
Be all that as it may, the reinstatement of West has just given us an idea of how the content posted on the platform will be managed. To say the least, this is a real break with its predecessors.
The takeover of Twitter by Musk has raised fears of the return of racist, discriminatory and bullying posts on the social network, after many months of efforts to purge the platform of them.
Many associates close to the Democratic Party fear that he will reinstate the accounts of followers of conspiracy theories and right-wing extremists.
Since making anti-Semitic remarks in early October, Ye has been banned from Instagram and Twitter. Almost all of his business partners, Adidas, Gap, Balenciaga, have dropped him.
The rapper has, however, announced that he will buy the social network Parler, a bastion of the conservatives. It is difficult to say whether the transaction will be finalized.
But after the announcement, Musk had posted a message in which he suggested a possible collaboration between him and Ye.
