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Elon Musk is all over the internet again after he officially took control of Twitter through what is known to be one of the biggest deals to privatize a company. After a series of legal battles, the $44 billion deal was finally closed on Thursday, October 27, 2022.
As soon as he took over Twitter, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla made significant changes to its functioning by firing the company's Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, Head of legal policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
So far, several famous personalities, including Donald Trump, have been banned from Twitter, one of the world's largest and most popular social media platforms. Elon Musk's takeover of the platform might bring back these banned Twitter users considering his radical arguments supporting unconditional, free speech.
Here are some famous people whose Twitter accounts might be activated if the tech billionaire decides to do away with the bans.
Famous personalities who might be back on Twitter after Elon Musk's takeover
1) Donald Trump
Over the many years of his internet presence, Twitter hasn't been the only social media platform to ban Donald Trump. YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram are among the other social networking sites to have deactivated his account owing to politically offensive posts and misinformation.
In January 2021, Trump was permanently banned from Twitter as his posts were seen to instigate violent thoughts and behavior amongst the audience.
Elon Musk expressed his intentions to lift the ban on Trump after he acquired the company. Since he now has full control of the platform, Trump is expected to be back on Twitter. However, an official statement has yet to be given out by Elon Musk.
2) Alex Jones
Alex Jones is an American host of The Alex Jones Show from Austin, Texas. He is also a far-right popular conspiracy theorist who was fairly popular on Twitter before he was permanently banned in 2018 for having repeatedly gone against Twitter's abusive behavior policy. Jones' alt-right website, InfoWars, was also banned at the same time for misinformation and offensive posts.
Jones was also ordered to pay $1 billion to the families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims for trivializing their loss and spreading false news that the mass shooting was a hoax. Elon Musk's intentions to lift the permanent bans, which he claims is a way of promoting free speech, would probably also reactivate Alex Jones' and InfoWars' account handles on Twitter.
3) Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon is another famous, controversial personality who served as the chief strategist at the White House during Trump's term. He is a well-known political strategist and media executive. In November 2020, he publicly called for the beheading of an FBI Director and the government's infectious diseases expert, which sparked controversy on the internet.
Twitter indefinitely banned him from the platform after he posted a threatening video on social media platforms, claiming that his posts glorified violence and instigated violent behavior.
4) Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell
Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell are among the many supporters of Trump who were banned by the social media platform. Powell and Flynn were accused of promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Banning them was part of Twitter's attempt to deal with calls for violence and the rapid spread of misinformation.
They also allegedly attempted to overturn the 2020 election results with their posts being a threat and a possible step towards offline harm and violence. Most internet platforms have a policy against threatening and harmful posts. However, Elon Musk's idea that free speech encompasses offensive posts may lead to the resurfacing of conspiracy theorists such as Flynn and Powell.
5) Mike Lindell
Also known as the My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell is another passionate and outspoken supporter of former US President Trump, who made baseless claims that Trump won the 2020 elections.
Apart from spreading misinformation in the form of disproven conspiracy theories, Lindell also spread false news about the cure for COVID-19, adding to the misinformation overload amid the pandemic.
After he was banned from Twitter for the above reasons, Lindell tried rejoining the platform using a fake name but was immediately shut down for not complying with the enforced ban. Elon Musk's claims to alter the grounds for banning or removing the concept of banning altogether, while not yet implemented, are likely to encourage the return of Mike Lindell on Twitter.
Final Thoughts
Most of those banned from Twitter have had a strong political voice on the internet, and their return to Twitter is likely to change the vibe of the platform as it has strived to be an accommodative space for all so far.
While Elon Musk has yet to make any decisions regarding the lifting of bans, he has already fired key employees from positions of power, implicating structural changes. The aforementioned personalities' return to Twitter is pure speculation and has not been confirmed yet.
