Elon Musk Is Restoring Banned Twitter Accounts—Here’s Why The Most Controversial Users Were Suspended And Who’s Already Back

The topline

Twitter owner Elon Musk granted amnesty to almost all banned accounts Thursday, a drastic policy shift that has alarmed many users and advertisers and opens the door for numerous high profile figures to stage potential comebacks and join the likes of former President Donald Trump and Kanye West who have had their accounts restored—here are some of the accounts that could return:

Mike Lindell, MyPillow’s CEO is said to want to go back to Twitter.

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Here are some key facts

Steve Bannon: Trump’s former White House strategist was banned in November 2020 after suggesting Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be beheaded on a video posted to his Twitter account.

Mike Lindell: The MyPillow frontman has been banned from Twitter twice—once for spreading election misinformation and again for trying to skirt that ban with a new account—and has reportedly been desperately trying to meet Musk in an effort to be reinstated.

Lin WoodA prominent Trump-supporter lawyer had his account suspended after spreading conspiracy theories concerning the election. Also, he posted a tweet that incited violence to coincide with Jan. 6, insurrection. The suspension became permanent after he promised to post from another account.

Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn Ron Watkins: The trio of high-flying QAnon figures—respectively Trump’s former election advisor, national security advisor and former administrator of far-right website 8kun, formerly 8chan—were suspended for promoting baseless conspiracy theories that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.

Martin Shkreli: Widely criticized as the “pharma bro” who jacked up the price of a lifesaving antiparasitic drug, he was permanently banned in 2017 for attempting to evade a temporary ban imposed for the “targeted harassment” of a journalist.

Roger Stone: The former Trump advisor made a brief return to Twitter ahead of Musk’s takeover—he was swiftly re-banned—after being suspended for attacking journalists online in 2017.

Azealia BanksA: This was the rapper who has a history of trolling celebrities and making offensive tweets.

Katie Hopkins: The British media personality and controversial right wing commentator was kicked off Twitter in 2020 for violating its “hateful conduct” policy.

David Duke: The former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard and brazen white supremacist was ousted from the platform in 2020 for repeatedly violating Twitter’s rules on hateful conduct.

Aubrey Huff: The former San Francisco Giants player downplayed the severity of Covid-19 online and was permanently suspended in 2021 for repeatedly violating Twitter’s policies on Covid misinformation.

Milo Yiannopoulos: The outspoken alt-right posterboy and former Breitbart editor—he is now assisting Kanye West on his 2024 presidential campaign—was banned in 2016 for harassing comedian and actor Leslie Jones.

Important Background

Musk already reinstated a number of suspended accounts—typically right wing—unilaterally. Taking action last Friday—Musk dubbed it “Freedom Friday”—the likes of Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (banned for repeated Covid misinformation infractions), Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson (hateful conduct targeting trans people), satire …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer