Twitter’s new chief Elon Musk announced on Thursday that he would reinstate suspended accounts on the platform next week as long as they do not violate the law, citing stark comments made during the company’s takeover, AFP reported.

In a poll on his account, when asked if Twitter should offer “a blanket amnesty to suspended accounts as long as they haven’t broken the law or sent outrageous spam,” 72.4% of the roughly 3.16 million people who voted said yes “so”.

“The people have spoken, amnesty starts next week,” Musk tweeted on Thursday, the US Thanksgiving holiday, accompanying his post with the message “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” (“The voice of the people is the voice of God”).

With the same expression, he rehabilitated on Saturday the account of former US President Donald Trump, banned from the social network after the storming of the Capitol in Washington in January 2021.

Tesla and SpaceX executives made the decision after similar consultations on the Bluebird network, a method with uncertain representativeness. A slim majority (51.8%) of the 15 million voters voted to reinstate the Republican billionaire, who has not tweeted since resuming his account.

Elon Musk has repeatedly explained that he bought Twitter because he considers the platform to be a “public digital market” necessary for democracy around the world.

The world’s richest man thinks content moderation is too restrictive, but his absolutist view of freedom of expression has sparked fears of a wave of abuse (misinformation, hate speech) on the social network.

Many brands have already suspended spending on Twitter advertising, which accounts for 90% of revenue.

Musk promised to create a content moderation board

The libertarian entrepreneur initially tried to reassure them, reminding them in late October that the rules hadn’t changed (yet) and promising that he wouldn’t make any decisions about restoring accounts until a “content moderation board” was in place.

But advertisers who had promised to keep their costs under the condition of creating that moderation board “broke the deal,” he wrote Tuesday, as a justification for bringing back accounts that had been removed from the platform.

Several major brands, including Volkswagen, General Motors and General Mills, announced they were suspending their ad spending on Twitter after Musk bought it.

However, Elon Musk appears to have a limit: he has indicated that he will not reinstate the account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has been sued for years by the parents of the victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newton, Connecticut, alleging that the massacre was carried out by those , who is against firearms.

Having experienced the tragedy of the death of his first child, Musk explained that he is “ruthless to those who use the death of children for financial, political or celebrity gain.”

Regulatory authorities

Elon Musk has been widely criticized for his impulsive decisions at Twitter, from massive layoffs to haphazard rollouts of new features.

On his account of 118 million people several times a day, he hits back at his critics with memes, emoticons, challenges, personal attacks and interpretations.

But the billionaire risks being fined by regulators.

Twitter must comply with European laws, including the Digital Services Act (DSA), which is supposed to force platforms to quickly remove illegal content and fight misinformation.

Arcom, the French media watchdog, on Monday reminded the Californian group of its “obligations” and asked it to “confirm” by Thursday that it is “capable” of meeting them and to “inform it of the short-term evolution of resources.” man and technology”, dedicated to them.