November 3, 2022
Following his $44 billion takeover of Twitter, Elon Musk has proposed several changes to the social media platform, including paid account verification. He also voiced his views on freedom of expression and censorship, tweeting that a clear process will be needed to reinstate banned Twitter users.
Persons who have been excluded from the site for breaching Twitter’s rules on harassment, violence or electoral and COVID-related misinformation cannot return until the Council meets.
The new Twitter owner also said that such a process is now underway and will take at least a few weeks.
“Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks,” his tweet read.
Musk’s tweets followed a meeting with civil rights groups such as Color of Change, the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP, where he vowed to uphold Twitter’s content moderation policies and to enforce election integrity, as well as forming a content moderation council made up of representatives with “widely divergent views.”
Musk also confirmed that he has spoken with these civil society leaders about establishing a process that “will continue to combat hate and harassment while enforcing its election integrity policies.” He also wants civil society organizations to join the proposed moderation council.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
