San Francisco - (AFP) - The new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk , announced that he had decided, starting next week, to activate suspended accounts through this service if they did not violate the law, returning to reassuring words in this regard when he purchased the platform.

Musk conducted a referendum through his account on the platform that lasted 24 hours and included the following question, "Is Twitter supposed to grant a general amnesty to the frozen accounts, provided that they have not violated the law or sent spam in a flagrant way?"

And 72.4% of the approximately 3.16 million people who participated in the referendum answered positively to this question.

"The people have said their word. The general amnesty begins next week," Musk wrote in a tweet.

Musk had used the same phrase, "the people have said their word," to announce last week that former US President Donald Trump's account had been reactivated, after it was banned after a number of his supporters invaded the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

Musk, the richest man in the world and owner of Tesla and SpaceX, decided to reactivate Trump's account based on a similar referendum he conducted, and the result was in favor of the former president.

A narrow majority of 51.8% out of 15 million participants supported reactivating the account of the Republican billionaire, who has not tweeted since the decision was made.

Musk has repeatedly stated that he bought Twitter because he considers this platform to be the "public digital arena" necessary for democracy in the world.

The richest man in the world considers content regulation too restrictive. But his absolute vision of freedom of expression raises fears of an increase in abuse (misinformation and hate speech) on the social network.

Several brands have suspended ad spending on Twitter, knowing that the network relies 90 percent on ads to generate revenue.

Musk tried to reassure these signs, reminding at the end of October that the rules had not changed (yet) and promising not to take any decision about reactivating accounts without forming a "content control council".

However, advertisers who promised to keep their expenses on the condition of forming this council “violated the agreement,” according to what Musk wrote on Tuesday, justifying the reactivation of blocked accounts on the platform.

Since Musk's acquisition of the network, major brands, including Volkswagen, General Motors and General Mills, have announced that they will suspend advertising spending on Twitter.

But it seems that Elon Musk has set limits for himself. He confirmed that he would not reactivate the account of the far-right American conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, who has been prosecuted for several years by the families of the victims of Sandy Hook School in Newton, Connecticut, after confirming that the massacre was just a fabricated play by opponents of firearms possession in the country.

Musk stressed that after the death of his first child, "he is ruthless towards anyone who exploits the death of children for political financial gain or fame."

Musk is widely criticized for his reckless decisions at the helm of Twitter, from mass layoffs to the chaotic launch of new jobs at the service.

He refutes criticism several times a day through his account, which has 118 million subscribers, using satirical images (memes), emojis, provocations and personal attacks.

However, regulators may take a bite out of the billionaire.

Twitter must respect European laws, including those related to digital services (DSA), which require platforms to quickly remove illegal content and fight misinformation.

The French media regulator, Arcom, reminded Twitter on Monday of its "duties" and asked it to "confirm" by Thursday its "capacity" to respect it and to "inform it of the short-term development of the human and technological resources" devoted to it.
Musk acquired Twitter at the end of October for $44 billion.