Starting on February 1st, Twitter users will have the option to contest account bans and will be subject to the new reinstatement standards set forth by the social media site.
Twitter accounts will only be terminated under the new guidelines, which came after billionaire Elon Musk bought the firm in October, for serious or persistent infractions of the platform’s rules.
Severe policy breaches include, among other things, engaging in illegal content or behaviour, threatening or instigating harm or violence, and harassing other users specifically.
In the future, Twitter said it will take less drastic measures, such as requesting users to delete offending tweets before using the account again, rather than suspending them altogether.
In response to a dispute over publishing open data on the billionaire’s plane, Musk was criticised for suspending the accounts of many journalists in December. The accounts were later restored by him.
Twitter ‘fair on all sides’
This week, in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Elon Musk met with several Republican legislative figures, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Musk announced Thursday night on Twitter that he had met with McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, “to discuss sure that this platform is fair to both.” McCarthy’s lone disclosure on Thursday was that Musk had stopped by to wish him a happy birthday.
McCarthy also acknowledged on Friday that Jeffries attended the meeting on Thursday and that he had never met Musk before.
McCarthy also acknowledged to reporters on Friday that he had arranged a meeting with Musk and many prominent Republicans in his office that day: Jim Jordan, the chair of the judiciary committee, James Comer, the chair of the oversight committee, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the chair of the energy and commerce committee, are all Republicans. The majority leader is Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana.
