Musk says suspended Twitter accounts will be granted amnesty ‘next week’

Elon Musk on Thursday said “a general amnesty” for suspended Twitter users will begin next week after he posted a poll over whether the platform should take action to restore affected accounts.

“Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?” Musk asked in the poll.

As of Thursday afternoon, a little more than 3 million users had participated in the poll, and just under three-quarters had voted in favor of the amnesty. 

“The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk said, using the Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” 

Musk had already reinstated the Twitter account of former President Trump, who had been banned from the platform after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

The Trump account call was also made after Musk ran a poll, also using the “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” phrase. The former president, though, has said he doesn’t plan to return to the platform.

Musk’s latest poll-based moves are among the controversial changes he’s made to the social media platform since his $44 billion acquisition late last month. 

The return of suspended accounts heightens concerns about content moderation on the platform, which had already been exacerbated by Musk’s mass layoffs at Twitter earlier this month.