Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, no decision on Donald Trump yet

euronews.com:

Elon Musk, owner and CEO of Twitter, has begun reinstating accounts that were previously subject to lifetime bans for breaking the platform's rules.

Announced Friday, the first reinstated accounts belong to author Jordan Peterson, comedian Kathy Griffin, and conservative parody outlet The Babylon Bee.

"The new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom to reach" the public, explained Elon Musk on his Twitter account.

"Negative or hateful tweets will be demoted and demonetized, so there will be no back-to-back ads or other revenue for Twitter. You won't find these tweets unless you specifically look for them, which is no different than the rest of the internet," he added.

Elon Musk defends an absolutist vision of freedom of expression and is expected to implement lighter moderation on the platform. 

It’s unclear whether more reinstatements are to come, particularly for the banned former President Donald Trump, who recently launched his campaign to regain the presidency. 

Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account nearly two years ago, citing his role in the Capitol riots. 

Musk said the decision concerning Trump’s ban “has not yet been made.”

The comedian Kathy Griffin was suspended last week from the platform, as were other Internet users who had changed their username to "Elon Musk" to mock the new boss. 

She had also replaced her profile picture with an image of the billionaire.

The Babylon Bee is a conservative-leaning U.S. satirical website that was suspended in March for hate speech violations for a tweet misgendering Rachel Levine, a transgender pediatrician part of Joe Biden's administration.

Jordan Peterson is a media personality known for his conservative views. 

He was also suspended from the platform for