Twitter users should vote on unlocking banned accounts. That’s how Donald Trump got his account back. Musk had actually announced something else.
The new Twitter owner Elon Musk lets users of the short message service vote in a survey on the activation of blocked accounts. In a tweet, he asked whether the platform should offer affected users a “general amnesty”. Excluded from such a pardon are users who have violated the law or spread spam messages.
So far majority for activation
Users of the online service can vote “yes” or “no” until tonight. According to the business magazine “Forbes”, more than 700,000 votes were received within the first 45 minutes. In the morning there were more than 2.5 million.
More than 72 percent of them supported the activation of blocked accounts. Such surveys are not representative. It is unclear whether and how many votes were cast from automated accounts. According to the latest information, the service has more than 230 million daily active users.
Actually, a panel should be used
Musk announced in late October that a council on how to deal with controversial content would be formed before Twitter accounts could be reactivated. Last week, after a user survey, the tech billionaire had the account of former US President Donald Trump activated without a committee. Trump has been banned from Twitter since January 2021. On January 6, he expressed sympathy for his supporters who had stormed the seat of the US Parliament.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion in late October. Since the takeover, the company has been struggling, among other things, with the reluctance of large advertising customers. Advertising revenue recently accounted for around 90 percent of revenue.
