In bad news for banned accounts on Twitter, Elon Musk, the new boss of the company has said that the platform will not reinstate such accounts without a "clear process". The accounts that were banned by Twitter at least for another few weeks, according to Twitter's new owner. Musk previously said that the micro-blogging platform should not permanently ban users and that he would reverse the ban on former US president Donald Trump.
"Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks," Musk tweeted on Wednesday.
Musk followed up with another tweet that noted that a "clear process" may entail. "Twitter's content moderation council will include representatives with widely divergent views, which will certainly include the civil rights community and groups who face hate-fueled violence," Musk tweeted.
Soon after closing the $44 billion transaction to acquire Twitter private, billionaire and Tesla CEO Musk floated the idea of forming a “content moderation council” at Twitter. He mentioned that he will not make any “major content decisions” or reinstate any accounts that were earlier banned before the council convenes.
Meanwhile, the new Twitter chief has a tough road ahead in terms of financial challenges in owning the company that failed to turn an annual profit in three of the last five years and took on $13 billion in debt as part of the blockbuster deal. Digital advertising which makes up 90 per cent of its revenue has also witnessed a decline. To "balance" the expected losses, Musk has announced that the company will charge $8 for the Twitter Blue service, including the much sought-after “verified” badge or "tick".
Musk's announcement comes in the wake of his attempts to monetise Twitter and reduce its dependability on ads. The new Twitter boss also mentioned that the fee will be used to reward content creators on the platform.