• Twitter may be contemplating getting rid of permanent bans for users who violate some of its policies.
• This would be in line with Elon Musk’s “free speech absolutist” vision for the platform.
• Musk recently hinted at buying Twitter again, but his legal battle with the social media company is currently on hold.

This past weekend saw the reemergence of Kanye West on Twitter only for the rapper to be promptly banned from the platform after making an antisemitic comment about going “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE.”

Just prior to him crafting the problematic tweet, Elon Musk sent a warm welcome to Ye:

Welcome back to Twitter, my friend!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 8, 2022

West’s return to Twitter preceded his getting banned from Instagram for a similar rant, ergo the blurry picture with Meta founder and Instagram owner Mark Zuckerberg.

Musk later tweeted that he had talked to Ye about the latter’s antisemitic comments, adding that he expressed his concerns and that West took this to heart.

Talked to ye today & expressed my concerns about his recent tweet, which I think he took to heart

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022

Musk unwittingly embroiling himself in the latest and greatest high-profile social media banning is incredibly timely.

Today, citing an article from the Financial Times, Reuters reported that Twitter is reviewing its policies around permanently banning users, which coincidently brings the social media juggernaut closer to the vision Musk has for the platform.

Apparently, Twitter has been exploring additional tools and methods for content moderation that could replace permanently banning users for violating its rules – currently the platform’s strongest form of punishment.

Shortly after signing his initial $44 billion deal to buy Twitter earlier in the year, Musk promised to change the social media platform’s content moderation practices in line with his own opinions as a “free speech absolutist.” To this end, he said he would unban former US President Donald Trump on the platform once he gained power over the company.

Luckily for the former president’s detractors and perhaps unfortunately for those that found his Twitter rants entertaining, Twitter is reportedly not looking into reversing any existing bans for breaching policy for inciting violence.

Instead, the platform is looking for ways to pardon users for “lesser offences”, such as sharing fake news.

With the Musk vs. Twitter trial now postponed until the end of October, it still stands to be seen if the social media company will receive any drastic changes to its platform any time soon. The world’s wealthiest man did recently hint at buying Twitter again though, saying it was an “accelerant” to creating a mysterious everything app called X.

[Image – Brett Jordan on Pexels]