Elon Musk, the newly appointed owner of Twitter, stated on Wednesday that it will be “a few more weeks” before any blocked accounts, including the one belonging to former US president Donald Trump, are allowed to return.
Twitter users have been waiting with bated breath to see if Musk will unblock Trump, who was banned for instigating a mob attack on the Capitol last year in an effort to rig the 2020 election.
One signal of where Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” intends to take the website, which he characterizes as a global town square, is the potential reinstatement of such accounts that were banned for breaking the site’s content moderation guidelines.
But on Wednesday, the South African billionaire indicated that a little more time will need to pass before the wait is over.
Until we have a clear procedure for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks, Twitter will not permit anyone who was de-platformed for breaking Twitter rules back on the platform, he tweeted.
That indicates following the crucial midterm elections in the United States on November 8, which will determine which party controls Congress. Trump, who was once active on Twitter, still maintains a strong grip on the Republican Party and has reopened his 2020 strategy by casting doubt on the validity of the approaching election.
Trump has said he would be happier staying with his own Truth Social communications network ever since Musk took Twitter private last week.
The former president’s network, however, is struggling financially, and many political strategists think it would be difficult for him to turn down the large audience and influence that would come with a return to Twitter, where he was once one of the site’s most popular international figures.
It was only a few days ago that the controversial $44 billion deal under which the world’s richest man acquired total control of the social media behemoth was announced. He had promised to scale up content monitoring.
Yoel Roth, the company’s head of safety, had posted on Twitter about how Twitter was battling misinformation before the elections when Musk tweeted in response.
We’re on the lookout for attempts to sway discussions about the US midterm elections in 2022, said Roth.
Musk said that he had discussed “how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies” with leaders of civic society.
Musk announced on Tuesday that the website will charge customers $8 per month to authenticate their credentials.
