Elon Musk, the CEO of Twitter, has posted a poll asking users of the microblogging platform to vote on whether to allow the account of former US President Donald Trump, who had previously been banned for life for inciting violence, to be reinstated.
“Reinstate former President Trump,” the billionaire Twitter owner posted, with a chance to vote either yes or no. “Trump poll getting ~1M votes/hour,” he said in a subsequent tweet.
Trump faced legal issues earlier in 2020 after his account was suspended following the Capitol Hill uprising on January 6, following the US Presidential elections.
The world’s richest man has made several decisions in this way, including one to purchase Twitter, so the introduction of this new policy is not shocking.
Musk started restoring access to accounts on Friday that had previously been banned indefinitely for violating the platform’s policies. Jordan Peterson, a writer, and Kathy Griffin, a comedian, were among the first individuals to have their accounts restored.
“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted and demonetized, so no ads or other revenue will go to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of the Internet,” Musk said in an earlier tweet.
A group of US senators requested the nation’s antitrust regulator supervise the social media platform’s consent decree and compliance with consumer privacy rules after the new Twitter CEO’s recent adjustments failed to convince them.
“We write regarding Twitter’s serious, willful disregard for the safety and security of its users, and encourage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate any breach of Twitter’s consent decree or other violations of our consumer protection laws,” reads the letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chair Lina Khan, which was signed by seven Democratic senators including Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren.
The integrity and safety of the platform have allegedly been compromised by the worrying actions taken by Twitter’s new CEO, according to US senators.
Additionally, since Musk took over Twitter last month, the company has experienced significant layoffs and resignations, according to the letter. They asserted that Musk has only given emphasis to growing profits while ignoring other important facets of the business.