The flock has spoken, Twitter is set to grant ‘amnesty’ to suspended accounts starting next week, following an online poll which swayed 72% in favour of the amnesty.
New owner Elon Musk had launched the poll on Wednesday asking if a general amnesty should be offered to the banished accounts provided they had not “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam”.
More than 3.1 million votes were recorded by the poll, the legitimacy of which could be questioned as such polls can be influenced by bots.
Announcing the result, Musk tweeted: “The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week.”
He added “Vox Populi, Vox Dei”, a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people [is] the voice of God.”
The amnesty is a strange turn of events for Twitter, as Musk had originally planned a ‘content moderation council’, who were supposed to make a call on account reinstatement and other content-related decisions.
Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2022
Who is in?
Musk’s poll came days after he reinstated Donald Trump’s account, following another poll that swung 51.8% in favour of his return
Some of other controversial figures who have returned are Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate and Kanye West.
However, Musk decided that he won't allow controversial conspiracy theorist Alex Jones back on Twitter.
"I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame," said Musk.
Testing Testing Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked— ye (@kanyewest) November 20, 2022