Who has Elon Musk reinstated on Twitter? Full list: Trump, Andrew Tate, Kanye...
A number of controversial Twitter accounts are back on the site after months of bans, whether the users of said accounts want to use Twitter or not.
Twitter’s rightward lurch continues as a number of previously perma-banned accounts returned the platform. They included people accused of anti-semitism, inciting violence, violence against women and transphobic remarks.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump was banned back at the beginning of 2021 after Twitter decided that his account increased “the risk of further incitement of violence.” Trump was criticised for not doing enough to push back against the January 6 riot.
However, a poll from Elon Musk received more than 15 million votes in its 24-hour lifespan and 51% of respondents called for Trump to be reinstated. The following day Trump’s account was back, though Musk was left disappointed as Trump has said he has no plans to return to the platform.
“I don’t see any reason for [a return to Twitter], they have a lot of problems at Twitter, you see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it,” Trump said during a virtual appearance before the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting.
“We aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” Trump wrote on his own social media platform.
Kanye West
On Sunday Kanye West made use of his own recent return to Twitter, with a post reading, “Testing Testing Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked”.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death [sic] con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” West wrote in the now-deleted post back in October.
An open reply from West to Diddy was another example of anti-semitism with the rapper saying, “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”
Jordan Peterson
Peterson gained public attention due to a number of YouTube videos he featured in back in 2016. He criticised “political correctness” in his opposition to a Canadian government bill aimed at protecting people’s gender identity. Following this up he had a round of media appearances butting heads with presenters, only enhancing his popualrity. Back in 2016-2018 the YouTube algorithm meant these videos were endlessly sent around teenage boys feeds. Titles include Jordan Peterson calmly dismantles feminism infront of two feminists with more than 21 million views.
Peterson ended up walking away from Twitter after his tweet targeted the actor Elliot Page; Peterson referred to Page, who is transgender, by his deadname, writing: “Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician.” The offending tweet resulted in Peterson’s suspension.
Andrew Tate
Tate was banned way back in 2017 after saying women should be held accountable for being sexually assaulted. This wasn’t the only social media site he was banned from as back in August 2022 influencer Andrew Tate was banned from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram after being found to have contravened the platforms’ community guidelines. Meta, the company owning two of the social media giants confirmed that the 35-year-old was “violating its policies” with his misogynistic content.
Tate had said that women “are given to the man and belong to the man” and said he would rather date a 19-year-old woman than a 26-year-old because the younger woman has “been through less dick.”