Elon Musk, the three-week-old head of Twitter, announced on Friday that several accounts of suspended users had been reinstated on the platform, but that he “hasn’t made a decision about Donald Trump yet,” AFP reported.

The Tesla boss, who defends an absolutist view of free speech, is expected to take a tough stance on former US President Donald Trump, who was banned from the social network after storming the Capitol in January 2021.

“Twitter’s new policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom to reach” the public, Elon Musk explained on his Twitter account.

“Negative or hostile tweets will be downgraded and demonetized, so Twitter will not have any ad or other revenue. You won’t find these tweets unless you specifically look for them, which is no different than the rest of the internet,” he added.

On Friday, Twitter found itself in the midst of an unprecedented crisis after hundreds of employees of the group, who survived the first mass wave of layoffs two weeks ago, decided to leave in response to the multibillionaire’s ultimatum.

Elon Musk is also facing concern and criticism from advertisers, analysts and elected officials after multiple decisions and controversial positions on the important issue of content moderation.

The accounts he reinstated on Friday — Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson and Babylon Bee — are close to the American left or right.

Comedian Kathy Griffin, who had two million followers, was banned from the platform last week, along with other users who changed their username to “Elon Musk” to mock the new boss. She also changed her profile picture to that of a billionaire.

“Twitter accounts that impersonate someone else without clearly indicating that they are a parody will be permanently suspended,” Elon Musk said.

Accused of being less supportive of free speech when he’s the target of jokes, Musk also mocked Kathy Griffin, tweeting: “She actually got suspended for acting as a comedian.”

The Babylon Bee, an American conservative satirical website, was suspended on Twitter in March for violating hate speech after tweeting about Rachel Levin, a transgender pediatrician in the Joe Biden administration.

According to Bloomberg, Elon Musk’s ex-wife, Talulah Riley, wrote to him in the spring before he announced plans to buy the social network to express his outrage at Babylon Bee’s suspension and urge him to buy Twitter to take it down or do it “radically for free speech.” “.

Jordan Peterson is a media personality known for his conservative views and has also been suspended from the platform for feuding with transgender actor Elliott Page.

“I’m back. Thanks to Elon Musk,” he wrote on Twitter on Friday.