Elon Musk announced on Twitter that he intends to lift the suspension of numerous Twitter users in a general amnesty to those who violated the site’s rules — many of whom may have been banned from the platform for spurious, or political reasons.
Musk first took a poll on Wednesday asking Twitter users, “Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?” Over 70% of respondents voted “Yes.”
“The people have spoken,” declared Musk some 24 hours later on Thursday. “Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
The Latin phrase means “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
Users who did not perform the most egregious violations on the website, such as breaking the law by engaging in threats of violence or posting child sexual materials, can expect to see their accounts reinstated as early as next week.
Musk’s promise of amnesty brought about a barrage of articles in the establishment media declaring his actions to be “harmful,” with the potential to endanger marginalized groups on Twitter.
A Washington Post article penned by Taylor Lorenz cited numerous far-left activists, including one who actively engages in threats of violence against critics of so-called “gender affirmation” procedures, to call for Apple and Google to take action against Elon Musk by removing Twitter from their app stores.
Other articles published on ABC News, the Associated Press, and other outlets claimed the same, declaring that “online safety experts” predict a spur in hate speech and misinformation on Twitter in response to the amnesty.
“Online monitoring groups have reported a rise in racism, anti-Semitism and other hate speech on Twitter since free speech advocate Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company last month, though the billionaire said Thursday it has declined,” reported Axios.
Imran Ahmed, the CEO of an activist organization called the Center for Countering Digital Hate, claimed that the move will cause “superspreaders of hate, abuse and harassment” to emerge on the platform, declaring that they “will be the only people to benefit from this latest decision by Twitter.”
Musk himself has confirmed that under Twitter’s previous regime, censorship was only deployed against conservatives — and not those on the far-left.
“We don’t hear much about Democrats and leftists being let back on Twitter. Why? Because they were never kicked off in the first place. Their lies and misinformation simply escaped all scrutiny.
Censorship has been deployed as a one-way operation against conservatives,” wrote conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza.
“Correct,” replied Musk.
