Elon Musk announced Thursday that many previously terminated Twitter accounts would be reinstated after a landslide of users responding to the new owner’s informal poll voted in favor of the decision.
Elon Musk has granted a blanket pardon for nearly all suspended accounts beginning next week, allowing many banned users to return to the loathed network. He, unsurprisingly, left the final choice to a Twitter poll.
“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week,” Musk tweeted, responding to the poll.
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” he added, repeating a Latin adage meaning “The voice of the people is the voice of God,” that he has used when talking about other Twitter polls.
According to Musk’s Wednesday poll, 72.4 percent of 3.16 million respondents thought Twitter should allow suspended accounts back on Twitter as long as they have not broken any laws or engaged in “egregious spam.”
It was the same type of informal “yes/no” poll of Twitter users that Musk used to decide whether to reinstate former President Donald Trump on the network.
Trump’s Twitter account was reactivated on Saturday after a thin majority of responders backed the decision.
A blanket amnesty for suspended accounts could frighten government officials watching Musk’s handling of vile speech since he purchased the powerful platform for $44 billion.
It might also unnerve Apple and Google, two tech titans with authority to prohibit Twitter from their mobile app stores due to content concerns.
Musk, who sealed his takeover of Twitter in late October, did not specify if the bans to be overturned by the poll were permanent or temporary bans.
The future of content moderation on Twitter has become an urgent worry, with large advertisers avoiding the platform following a disastrous relaunch earlier this month that resulted in a profusion of false accounts.
