Elon Musk Reinstates Some Banned Twitter Accounts

Elon Musk announced that he has reinstated certain banned Twitter accounts on his platform, but that no decision had been taken on whether to welcome back former US President Donald Trump.
Musk announced on Twitter that the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, psychologist Jordan Peterson, and conservative parody site Babylon Bee had been “reinstated,” but that the “Trump decision has not yet been made.”

The people have spoken.

Trump will be reinstated.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei. https://t.co/jmkhFuyfkv

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2022

The Tesla CEO followed through on his promise over the weekend, restoring Trump’s account after a tiny majority of respondents to Musk’s online poll opted for Trump’s restoration.

The account @realDonaldTrump has 87 million followers as of Monday. It hasn’t tweeted since January 8, 2021. Along with other previously banned accounts, the former president is one of numerous one-time pariahs who have been welcomed back by Twitter’s new administration. The following is a list of accounts that have recently been reinstated to Twitter.

While Musk has acted as if the decision was made by the users, Musk had stated in May, just after signing the first deal to purchase Twitter, that he intended to unban Trump.

The announcement came only seconds after US Attorney General Merrick Garland designated an independent prosecutor to supervise the criminal investigations involving Trump, and three days after the former president declared a new presidential bid in 2024.

Griffin, who has two million followers on Twitter, was the most recently suspended account after she changed her handle to Elon Musk in order to take advantage of the website’s new eased restrictions.