After Musk's Amnesty Poll, Twitter Is Reinstating Over 60k Suspended Accounts

Elon Musk recently conducted a Twitter poll asking if all the bad actors that were banned permanently from the platform should be offered a general amnesty. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with Musk promising that "amnesty begins next week." Well, it appears that the floodgates are about to open.

According to Platformer, the company has started the mechanism of bringing back scores of banned accounts. The process, which employees are internally referring to as the Big Bang, will reinstate thousands of accounts that were handed a suspension for violating content policies.

Scoop w/@CaseyNewton: Twitter is reinstating roughly 62,000 accounts that were suspended, each with more than 10,000 followers. One of the accounts has 5 million followers. 75 have more than 1 million. Internally, employees are calling it the Big Bang: https://t.co/8hGtLCe8qX

— ZoÃ" Schiffer (@ZoeSchiffer) November 29, 2022

Twitter has already unbanned former President Donald Trump, who was served a permanent ban in the wake of the Capitol Hill riots over his alleged role in inciting violence. Other controversial personalities that have made their way back on Twitter include rap mogul Ye nee Kanye West and Internet personality Andrew Tate.

Citing information received from insider sources, Platformer reports that Twitter employees are in the process of reinstating approximately 62,000 accounts with a follower account exceeding the 10,000 mark. In a nutshell, all these are accounts that commanded a healthy online reach but were likely banned for less-than-desirable actions.

Notably, among the target personalities that will soon be back on Twitter is an account that had more than 5 million followers prior to being booted off. The report adds that of the nearly 62,000 target accounts, there are 75 with over a million followers each. Unfortunately, there is no word on the identity of these returning accounts, as of now.

However, the idea sounds ominous, both from platform wellness and business perspectives. Advertisers are wary about the direction Twitter is headed under Musk's free-speech absolutist leadership. Twitter is already reeling from a major advertiser exodus, and Musk is not too happy about losing out on all that ad money. 

Hurt by advertisers packing their bags and heading far away from Twitter, Musk even lashed out at Apple because the company has "mostly stopped advertising on Twitter." Musk even alleged that Apple is threatening to "withhold Twitter from its App Store," a scenario that would force Musk to make his very own phone. 

According to Bloomberg, Apple was spending over $100 million per year on Twitter ads. Targeting Apple sounds like a surefire way to sour the business relationships. On top of that, bringing back bad actors will only make Twitter a less desirable online billboard for Apple, and others. Bringing back banned troublemakers sounds like the bad kind of Big Bang for the social media platform.