Content moderation is still alive and well at Twitter as an account has been suspended for a not-so-veiled threat against conservative voices.
According to a screenshot, @little_hoot tweeted: “Chaya Raichik, Tim Pool, Matt Walsh, Jaimee Michell, et al have been way too comfortable lately. I personally think they should have to fear for their lives more.”
The screenshot was retweeted by Greg Price and posted by Libs of TikTok. It asked if such threats are still restricted by the social media platform’s terms of service. New Twitter CEO Elon Musk replied: “Yes.”
@Patreon You ok with members making threats like this?https://t.co/HneB0MncOE
— Jarrod (@nMeshCorp) November 23, 2022
The targets of the threat were Libs of TikTok creator Chaya Raichik, Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire, Gays Against Groomers founder Jaimee Michell, and YouTuber Tim Pool.
Musk has faced a high-wire balancing act since acquiring Twitter last month. A self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” the CEO was flooded with calls for reinstatement of banned accounts within hours of the ink being dry in his acquisition.
The billionaire vowed to value 1st Amendment rights without allowing the platform to plunge into a “hellscape,” as he described it in a letter to advertisers.
Before purchasing the social media giant, Musk was notoriously critical of “permabans” of accounts that ran afoul of the left-leaning moderators. He declared that such punitive actions should be rare and mostly targeted at spam and scam accounts.
The highest profile account that has been reinstated is that of former President Donald Trump. Trump’s account was reactivated after a majority of users voted in favor of the action in a poll conducted by Musk.
Kanye West has also been allowed back on Twitter.
Musk, however, refused to restore the account of Alex Jones, saying he would not be permitted back on the platform. Jones was permanently suspended in 2018.
The new CEO put out a Twitter poll Wednesday asking users if suspended accounts should be granted a mass amnesty. He qualified the proposal with the requirement that “they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.”
The poll decidedly favored offering a general amnesty to banned accounts. And Musk commented, indicating that he will be returning erroneously banned accounts to Twitter.
