In the month since his takeover, billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk has been struggling with his newly purchased social media company. Massive layoffs and changes to Twitter's features have contributed to app malfunctions and chaos on the platform. In his most recent controversial move, Musk is granting "amnesty" to suspended accounts on the site.
The accounts receiving amnesty include users who spread misinformation, harassment, hate speech, and more. According to safety experts, reinstating these accounts will exacerbate the rise in racist posts, misinformation, and hate speech that's been seen on Twitter ever since Musk became CEO and fired Twitter's content moderation contractors.
A day after he took over Twitter, Musk tweeted that he wouldn't reinstate any suspended users until the company had a "content moderation council" in place. Less than a month later, Musk reneged when he reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist and U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. According to Musk, he was forced to go back on the promise by "a large coalition of political-social activists groups".
In the meantime, Musk has been appearing in the replies and retweets of a number of right-wing and far-right figures on Twitter, and he encouraged his followers to vote Republican in this year's midterms.
Before the amnesty announcement, Musk held a poll on Twitter asking his followers if he should reinstate accounts that hadn't "broken the law or engaged in egregious spam." The idea received 72% support.
Roughly a week before that, Musk held a similar poll on whether or not to let former President Donald Trump return to the platform. The "yes" vote won in that poll, as well, but Trump has said that he won't be coming back to Twitter.
Twitter surveys are far from reliable, and bots can play a major role in the results. Despite that, Musk has used his Twitter followers to make several decisions in the past, though he doesn't always stand by the statements he makes on the platform.
In fact, Musk landed himself in serious legal trouble after tweeting about having the funding to take Tesla
For years, Musk has used his considerable platform on Twitter to create the persona that he's known for today, but buying the company itself seems to have soured that image.
This story is developing rapidly and details are subject to change.
