Topline
Twitter CEO Elon Musk reinstated My Pillow owner and conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell’s account on the social media platform on Friday as part of his campaign to reinstate banned accounts, even after banning journalists and several other accounts that were critical of him.
Twitter CEO reinstated My Pillow founder Mike Lindell’s account on the social media platform.
Key Facts
“I’m back!!” Lindell tweeted Friday afternoon, thanking Musk and adding, “MELT DOWN THE ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES AND TURN THEM INTO PRISON BARS!”—a reference to his false claims that voting machines were rigged during the 2020 election.
Lindell had been banned twice from the social media site last year, first for spreading baseless conspiracies about the 2020 election, claiming his political ally, former President Donald Trump, had won—he was banned again for creating a new account to skirt Twitter’s ban.
Lindell is the latest controversial figure whose account has been brought back by Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, since he took over the platform in October.
Last month, he brought back far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), whose personal account was banned last year after she repeatedly spread misinformation on Covid-19, with Greene calling it “heartbreaking to think of all the lives lost [because] Twitter decided they were the ministry of truth.”
Musk also reinstated controversial former kickboxer and social media star Andrew Tate, whose account was suspended in 2017 when he said victims of rape and sexual harassment should “bear responsibility” for the assault.
Musk briefly brought back rapper Kanye West’s account after it was banned for antisemitic posts last month, although he suspended it just weeks later when West tweeted the image of a swastika, saying West violated Twitter’s “incitement to violence” policy, adding, “I tried my best.”
He also reinstated an account belonging to Trump, who was suspended after the January 6 riots and has since started his own social media platform, Truth Social, although the former president has not tweeted from his Twitter account since he was reinstated.
In a series of actions last month, which Musk dubbed “Freedom Friday,” Musk also reinstated the accounts of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, who was banned for anti-trans hate speech, as well as the site Babylon Bee (banned for spreading anti-trans messaging) and comedian Kathy Griffin (banned for parodying Musk).
Tangent
Musk came under fire on Thursday when he suspended an account that posts information on his private jet, despite him using the account as an example of the types of accounts that can stay on the platform. He also suspended the accounts of journalists, who appeared to have tweeted about the jet tracker, as well as an account that prompted Twitter users to join rival platform Mastodon. Earlier on Friday, European Union officials warned they could impose sanctions on Musk for banning journalists from Twitter.
Key Background
Fearing advertisers could leave the platform as he completed his massive $44 billion purchase of Twitter, Musk pledged not to make Twitter into a “free-for-all hellscape” where anything can be said without consequences. Since he took over, however, hate speech has spiked while several high-profile accounts have left and advertisers have pulled ads. Last week, the European Union threatened to implement a ban on the platform unless Musk boosts its moderation policies and cuts its “arbitrary” approach to reinstating banned accounts. Musk, however, has emphasized Twitter is committed to reducing hate speech on the platform, tweeting that it’s declined by one third from “pre-spike levels” in October, adding, “Congrats to the Twitter team!”
Further Reading
Twitter Suspends Account Tracking Elon Musk’s Private Jet (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/16/musk-reinstates-mike-lindells-twitter-account-after-suspending-journalists-heres-who-else-hes-brought-back/