Trump, other banned users will not return to Twitter before midterms, says Elon Musk

Twitter's new founder, Elon Musk, on Wednesday assured that the banned users won’t return to the platform “for weeks" as his new content moderation team will review the blocked accounts. This implies, that former US President Donald Trump and other users who were blocked from the platform won’t be back before the Nov 8 midterm elections. As the Tesla and SpaceX CEO concluded his $44bn purchase deal of the social media platform last week, there were speculations that the "free speech absolutist" Musk would restore the accounts of the prominent personalities who were restricted from the platform due to the violation of the community guidelines. 

“Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on [the] platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks,” Musk tweeted on 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," he added. 

Twitter had banned the ex US commander in chief Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol for inciting his supporters to disrupt the democratic elections that sealed victory for the sitting president Joe Biden. The microblogging site, at the time, had stated, "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence." Musk said in May that Twitter's decision to ban Trump was "morally wrong and flat-out stupid." He had also claimed that he would reverse the ban if he completed his then-pending acquisition of Twitter. Musk believes that the "permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots or spam."

No account reinstatements before content moderation council's review: Musk

Last week, SpaceX CEO said that he would be “forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints." He noted that “no major content moderation change or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.” Tesla CEO also assured that no major decisions will take place before the council convene first and holds an extensive discussion. There are no details offered by Twitter's new owner about how the content moderation council will work. 

The content moderation council of Twitter includes advisory groups that look at topics online such as online safety and harassment, human and digital rights, suicide prevention and mental health, child sexual exploitation, and dehumanisation. Some of the organisations that are a part of it include the GLAAD, the Anti-Defamation League, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Human Rights Foundation, and the Trevor Project, among many others, according to Twitter