Musk, Twitter Account Suspension Restored by Vote?

Put to Vote Even for Trump Account Recovery
Restoring Suspended Twitter Accounts Is One of Musk's Long-Standing Goals

Elon Musk, who acquired Twitter. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Sung-wook] Elon Musk has started a vote on whether to restore suspended Twitter accounts by mentioning a 'General Amnesty.' Previously, Musk held a similar vote to restore the Twitter account of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

On the 23rd (local time), Musk tweeted, "Should we offer amnesty to suspended accounts if they have not broken the law or engaged in severe spam?" and asked followers to vote on their agreement. More than 1.85 million followers participated in the vote within about four hours of its posting, and it will continue until 9:46 a.m. on the 24th.

Restoring suspended Twitter accounts is one of Musk's long-standing goals. Calling himself an 'absolutist for freedom of expression,' Musk has repeatedly criticized Twitter's strict content regulations while pursuing the acquisition of the platform. In particular, when Twitter suspended former President Trump's account in January last year, citing concerns that Trump supporters' storming of the Capitol on January 6 could incite violence, Musk called it a "completely foolish move."

On the 18th, Musk conducted a similar vote regarding the restoration of Trump's account. The next day, he restored Trump's account, citing that 51.8% of the 15 million respondents voted in favor. Around the same time, Twitter accounts of Canadian conservative commentator Jordan Peterson, who had made transphobic remarks, the conservative satire site The Babylon Bee, and comedian Kathy Griffin, who was caught impersonating Musk, were also reactivated. Twitter stated that it would "prefer policies focused on freedom of the press rather than freedom of access."

However, criticism has arisen that Twitter account restorations are being done selectively. In other words, Musk is restoring certain accounts while not restoring others, making the criteria unclear. On the 20th, Kanye West's account, which had been restricted due to anti-Semitic remarks, was restored after about a month without a voting process. In contrast, the account of Alex Jones, who has promoted far-right conspiracy theories, has not been restored.

The Independent commented, "Twitter suspended accounts based on policy violations such as hateful content, abuse, misinformation, extremism, threats of violence, privacy or copyright infringements," and added, "Those accounts will probably all return under Musk's 'amnesty.'"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.