Elon Musk restores censorship to Twitter, refuses to reinstate accounts before election
New Twitter owner Elon Musk has decided to restore the “content moderation tools” he had frozen when taking over the platform last week after meeting with Left-wing “civil rights” groups.
The world’s richest man, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and took over the social media company to restore free speech, announced he will continue to allow censorship on the platform and will “restore content moderation tools that had been blocked for some staff by the end of the week,” according to Bloomberg.
The decision comes after Musk met with the heads of the Anti-Defamation League, Color of Change, Free Press, the Asian American Foundation, the NAACP, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
The groups made three demands of Musk: that the accounts of those who were de-platformed not be restored until there is “a transparent process for doing so”; that Twitter continues to censor “election lies and denial:, even after Election Day; and that the company “includes the voices of civil rights leaders and communities that have faced hate-fueled violence on its forthcoming content moderation council,” according to Protocol.
Anti-Defamation League Vice President Yael Eisenstat said Musk verbally agreed to all demands, which Musk appeared to signal in a subsequent tweet.
“Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks,” the billionaire wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “Twitter's content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence.”
Despite his accommodations, the “civil rights” coalition “Is not letting up on its pressure campaign, which includes calling on advertisers to pull out of Twitter if Musk reduces content moderation on the platform.”
Musk’s announcement was met with swift backlash.
“Elon caved in less than a week,” said journalist Tim Pool.
“Blink twice if you’ve been kidnapped,” tweeted another netizen.
“The *only* people ever attacked or structurally abused on Twitter were conservatives. And the abuse came from far-left Twitter staff. Name a single account from the Left that was censored or wrongfully depltformed? [sic] Yet your friends at the @TheBabylonBee are still locked out,” wrote political commentator Benny Johnson.
“But traditionally, hatred towards conservatives are [sic] not considered hate at all. So will that change now?” wrote another.
