Elon announces new Twitter’s new content moderation policy, reinstates some banned accounts | Digit

On November 19, Musk announced the new Twitter policy, which is about “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” Along with this, the new boss of Twitter also announced that the platform has decided to bring back a few accounts that were taken down previously. The new content moderation policy and the act of bringing back banned accounts is a big step for the platform, especially when the most prominent advertising firms worldwide are discussing that advertising on Twitter is “high risk,” a report by The Verge states. 

Twitter new policy does not allow users freedom of reach

In a tweet, Musk writes that the “new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.” To provide some context, social media platforms have a concept of reach, which refers to the number of users to whom a post or a tweet goes. The platform’s algorithm often decides what users see on their feed based on their interests and previous search patterns, determining a post’s reach in the process. 

New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.

Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.

You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

While all big names, such as Facebook and Instagram, have such an algorithm, Musk is saying outright that Twitter will consider freedom of speech, which refers to what users want to say. Still, it won’t allow freedom of reach, which refers to the number of fellow users to whom the content reaches. 

Adding to it, Musk writes, “negative/hate tweets be max deboosted & demonetised, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.” It may be the reach of the negative or hate speech that Musk wants to limit. Since such posts often go viral, Twitter will also demonetise them so that creators cannot make any money from them. 

The platform restores a few banned accounts as well

From now on, Twitter users won’t find a tweet unless they are specifically looking for it, which, per Musk, “is no different from rest of internet.” Committing to the new policy, Musk has also announced that Twitter accounts Kathie Griffin, Jordan Peterson & Babylon Bee have been restored. 

However, former US president Donald Trump’s account has not been reinstated yet. In fact, in his iconic way, Musk has conducted a poll on the microblogging platform, asking the internet whether they want Trump’s account to be reinstated. Surprisingly, it has been ten hours since Musk posted the poll, and it already has over nine million votes, of which 52.5% favour bringing back Trump on Twitter (at 04:45 PM IST, November 19, 2022). 

Vox Populi, Vox Dei

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022