Update 2022/11/24 at 3:29pm ET: Elon Musk confirmed via a tweet that he would forge ahead with his “general amnesty” plan next week. Musk ran a poll asking Twitter users if he should grant amnesty to suspended accounts that haven’t “broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” However, as highlighted by an excellent report from The Washington Post, Musk’s plan stands to cause widespread problems on Twitter. We could see the return of accounts banned for harassment, abuse, misinformation, and more.
The people have spoken.
Amnesty begins next week.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2022
The original story follows below.
Twitter owner Elon Musk is back with another poll to make another significant moderation decision, something he previously promised would happen after forming a “widely diverse” content moderation council.
This time around, Musk’s Twitter poll asks if Twitter should offer a “general amnesty” to suspended accounts. If Twitter users vote in favour of it, it seems Musk plans to let the accounts return to Twitter “provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” At the time of writing, there were three hours left on the poll, and the results were 72.3 percent yes and 27.7 percent no, with a little over 3 million votes.
Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 23, 2022
Musk has already made several significant decisions after promising not to do so until after forming a moderation council. However, Musk reinstated several accounts over the weekend, including comedian Kathy Griffin (who was banned for impersonating Musk), right-wing parody outlet The Babylon Bee, and author Jordan Peterson (both of which had accounts locked for misgendering trans people). Musk also reinstated former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Twitter account after Twitter users narrowly voted in favour of it in a poll from Musk, although Trump declined to return to Twitter.
Like many things Musk does with Twitter, it feels like there’s little regard for the potential consequences of allowing suspended accounts back on the platform. Those accounts were suspended for a reason, and while some likely weren’t justified, plenty of suspensions were. Giving people a second chance is good, but this move will likely flood Twitter with less savoury accounts. That will likely spiral into more content that advertisers don’t like and more harassment of journalists, politicians, and other users, ultimately driving more people off the platform.
Whatever damage this move does to Twitter, Musk will likely just blame it on activists before tweeting another plan with little regard for consequences.
Read more about Musk’s tumultuous time at Twitter here.
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