In a thread posted Friday afternoon, Elon Musk shared more about his plans for Twitter’s philosophy surrounding expression on the platform and announced a few accounts that had been reinstated.
Explaining Twitter’s new policy as “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk stated that posts deemed “negative/hate tweets” would be “max deboosted & demonetized” and only visible to those who “specifically seek it out.”
Musk did not share who would make such decisions or how tweets would be deemed negative or hateful, details that will hopefully be forthcoming as one of the old Twitter’s biggest issues was selectively enforced content standards that seemed to be based on the whims of liberal mobs and the feeble sensitivities of the tech company’s moderation team.
Musk did clarify that the new Twitter policy regarding “deboosted” tweets found to be negative or hateful would only apply to individual posts, and not to accounts posting such content.
Note, this applies just to the individual tweet, not the whole account
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
In a subsequent tweet, Musk also announced that the Twitter accounts for Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and The Babylon Bee had been reinstated while a decision on whether to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account was still yet to be made.
Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated.
Trump decision has not yet been made.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
For his part, Trump has said that he’d stay with his Truth Social platform even if Twitter reinstated his account, but after announcing his third run for the presidency this week, he’d likely have some presence on Twitter if he had the option again.
The Babylon Bee, in its first post since March 20, tweeted “We’re back. Let that sink in,” alluding to Musk’s tweet when he first entered Twitter HQ carrying a literal sink in order to make the same joke.
We're back. Let that sink in.
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 18, 2022
Jordan Peterson also celebrated his reinstated account with a post thanking Musk:
I'm back. Thanks @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/MnWWNDACGD
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) November 18, 2022
At publishing time, Griffin still had not posted from her newly reinstated account after being suspended for violating Twitter’s policy barring impersonation without clear “parody” disclaimers by changing her display name to Elon Musk.
Before announcing the reinstatement of the accounts, Musk had tweeted “Freedom Fridays …” with the “spoiler alert” tag, hinting that news was forthcoming.
Freedom Fridays …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022
Whether Fridays continue to be the day on which Musk reinstates those who’ve languished in the Twitter gulag or not, he continues to deliver on the hopes many had for his era leading Twitter after taking over the company.
who cares
Twitter’s “new” policy sounds just like the old policy that was used to marginalize conservatives. Emphasizing that the “deboosting” of tweets found to be negative or hateful would only apply to individual posts is not the least bit reassuring. Systematically deboosting the individual Tweets of someone with conservative views has the same effect as deboosting their entire channel. The ability to speak freely and be heard will still be at the discretion of Twitter censors, who continue to maintain a ban against a former president of the United States. So far, Elon Musk doesn’t seem like the free speech absolutist he once claimed to be. Quite the contrary.
He should have restricted Valerie Bertinelli, too. That basket case did the exact same thing Kathy Griffin did by posting as Elon Musk. I used to like Bertinelli, but she’s an absolute nut case now, whining about everything under the sun, especially politics and her weight. She went on Jenny Craig and lost a good bit a weight several years ago. Marie Osmond was doing Nutrisystem. Valerie made a snotty comment about Nutrisystem being ok “if you want to eat food that tastes like crap”. She even wrote some books on how she had all the answers about losing weight. Now, Marie has kept her weight off for years, and Valerie ballooned way out so she needs to shut her whiny mouth about how fat she is now. She can afford to hire a nutritionist and somebody to give her private workouts. I’m not even on Twitter and I’ve come across her videos/public breakdowns. These celebrities will do anything to stay ‘relevant’.
DJT’s account should have been the first reinstated Day One. Not impressed with Musk.