Elon Musk multiplies the controversial announcements on the future of Twitter.
Returning to reassuring remarks during his takeover, the new boss of the social network declared, Thursday, November 24, that he would restore from next week the accounts suspended on the platform if they did not break the law. .
When asked whether Twitter should offer a "blanket amnesty to suspended accounts provided they haven't broken the law or spam in an outrageous way," 72, posted in the form of a poll on its account, 72 4% of the approximately 3.16 million people said "yes".
"The people have spoken, the amnesty begins next week," Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday, a holiday in the United States for the feast of Thanksgiving, accompanying his publication of the message "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" ("The voice of the people is the voice of God").
It is with this same expression that he had, on Saturday, rehabilitated the account of former American President Donald Trump, banned from the social network after the assault on the Capitol in Washington in January 2021.
The leader of Tesla and SpaceX had taken this decision following a similar consultation on the blue bird network, a method of uncertain representativeness.
A narrow majority (51.8%) of the 15 million voters expressed themselves in favor of a return of the Republican billionaire, who has not tweeted since the restoration of his account.
Elon Musk, however, seems to have a limit: he indicated that he would not restore the account of the American far-right conspirator Alex Jones, sued for several years by parents of victims of the shooting of the Sandy Hook school in Newton. (Connecticut) for claiming the massacre was just a staged show by opponents of guns.
Having experienced the death of his first child, he explained to be "without mercy vis-à-vis anyone who uses the deaths of children for (gain) financial, political or fame gains".
A financial impact
Elon Musk has repeatedly explained that he bought Twitter because he considers the platform the "digital public square" essential to democracy in the world.
The richest man in the world considers the moderation of content too restrictive, but his absolutist vision of freedom of expression raises fears of a surge of abuse (misinformation, hate speech) on the social network.
Many brands have already suspended ad spending on Twitter, which is 90% dependent on it for revenue.
The libertarian entrepreneur first tried to appease them, recalling at the end of October that the rules had not (yet) changed and promising not to take any decision on the reinstatement of accounts before the creation of a "council of moderation of content".
But the advertisers who had promised to maintain their spending on the condition that this moderation council be created "have broken the agreement", he wrote on Tuesday as justification for the return of the accounts ousted from the platform.
Several major brands, including Volkswagen, General Motors and General Mills, have announced that they have suspended advertising spending on Twitter since its acquisition by Elon Musk.
Monitored by regulators
Elon Musk is widely criticized for his impulsive decisions at the helm of Twitter, from mass layoffs to the chaotic launch of new features.
He dismisses criticism several times a day on his account with 118 million subscribers with memes (parodic images), emoticons, provocations, personal attacks and pirouettes.
But the billionaire risks being overtaken by regulators.
Twitter must indeed respect European laws, including that on Digital Services (DSA) which should oblige platforms to quickly remove illegal content and to fight against misinformation.
Arcom, the French media policeman, reminded the Californian group of its "obligations" on Monday and asked it to "confirm" by Thursday that it was "able" to deal with it and "to inform it of the short-term development of the human and technological resources" devoted to it.
With AFP
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