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Musk: Twitter to offer 'general amnesty' to suspended accounts

Twitter will grant suspended users "general amnesty" starting next week after owner Elon Musk polled users on the topic. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI
Twitter will grant suspended users "general amnesty" starting next week after owner Elon Musk polled users on the topic. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Twitter owner Elon Musk continues to shake up the platform's policies, now preparing to institute "general amnesty" for users who have been suspended.

Musk used another poll to take the pulse of Twitter users on Wednesday, asking his audience "Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?"

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More than 3.1 million users voted on the poll, which went 72.4% in favor of the idea.

"The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei," Musk tweeted Thursday.

The Tesla and SpaceX owner has not been shy about loosening Twitter rules and bringing back notable users who were suspended or banned. He recently brought former President Donald Trump and Georgia Sen. Marjorie Taylor-Green's personal accounts back after they were banned in January 2021.

Trump was banned following the attack of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. Taylor-Green was banned for violating a company policy against sharing disinformation about COVID-19.

Musk used a Twitter poll to determine whether he would reinstate Trump's account.

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There are several notable right-wing users still banned from Twitter, including Trump's former adviser Steven Bannon, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and KKK leader David Duke.

Musk said he will never reinstate the account of Jones, who recently lost a defamation lawsuit from parents of the victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. Musk was asked if he would reinstate Jones by another Twitter user and responded "No." After a user asked him to reconsider, he elaborated on his stance.

"My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame," Musk said.

Right-wing leaning accounts are not the only ones that have been reinstated. Musk also reinstated the account of comedian Kathy Griffin, who is a noted critic of Trump and the Republican Party.

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