Elon Musk pledged to remove thousands of previously blocked Twitter accounts, despite concerns over hate speech or misinformation on the social networking site.
The Tesla billionaire held a poll on the social network, offering a “general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam”.
As part of his drive to promote free expression, Musk has made major changes to the social network.
However, the “amnesty” is likely to raise concerns among brands and advertisers about the possibility of flood account bans for bullying or hate speech returning to the site.
As he tries to overturn what he perceives as excessive censorship by Twitter, Mr Musk has already reinstituted the previously blocked account of Donald Trump.
Although the billionaire originally pledged to establish a neutral content moderation council to make key decisions, he ended up abandoning that promise and polling his Twitter followers to find out what key decisions were.
Musk’s changes may also cause him to be in conflict with safety laws online in the UK or Europe.
Britain plans to bring back the Online Safety Bill to Parliament next Month. This will place a legal obligation on social media companies under threat of fines to implement clear moderation strategies.
After months of legal battle, Mr Musk bought Twitter in a $44bn transaction. Since taking control, the billionaire has fired thousands of employees and removed any doubters from his decisions. He also established a team of advisors at the company’s top.
Musk announced last night that the company would launch a new verification process next week. To verify their accounts on Twitter, they will eventually have to pay.
He stated that the new features will include a gold check for companies, grey for the government, and blue for individuals (celebrity, not). All verified accounts will be manually authenticated prior to check activation.
