Sources: Twitter begins reinstating ~62K accounts with more than 10K followers after Elon Musk's poll on general amnesty; one account has over 5M followers

They're skeptical of their workers, too. PLUS: New details on Musk's ‘general amnesty’ for banned Twitter users — and Zoë Schiffer

Platformer 2022-11-29

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter had already used polls to restore Donald Trump’s account and had reinstated Ye, Project Veritas, and others despite an earlier commitment to form a moderation council. The broader amnesty had also been previewed as applying to accounts not accused of breaking the law or egregious spam.

The rollout moves Twitter from high-profile individual reinstatements to a large-scale return of accounts with established audiences, making the platform’s poll-led moderation approach consequential for what users see and whom they can reach.

First-order effects

Twitter begins restoring distribution to roughly 62,000 banned accounts with more than 10,000 followers, immediately expanding the pool of high-reach voices on the service.
The move operationalizes the previously announced general-amnesty criteria, rather than leaving reinstatement to a small set of prominent individual cases.

Second-order effects

Musk’s public polls become a practical mechanism for moderation decisions, a pattern later visible when Twitter restored some journalists’ accounts after another poll-driven reversal.
Users, publishers, and advertisers face a feed shaped by the return of accounts that had been excluded under prior enforcement decisions, increasing the importance of Twitter’s ranking and policy choices.

Third-order effects

If Twitter continues replacing case-by-case enforcement with poll-backed mass reversals, platform governance shifts away from a standing moderation body toward direct owner-led mandates.
The episode points to a broader contest over whether large social platforms treat account enforcement as durable rules-based policy or as decisions that can be rapidly reopened by platform leadership.

The trend: Twitter is moving toward owner-directed, poll-legitimized moderation decisions that can quickly reverse earlier account-enforcement outcomes.

Discussion

@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
We wrote about the glee with which some tech CEOs have greeted the Musk takeover of Twitter. His scorched-earth approach to HR is making them rethink what might be possible at their own companies: https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
PLUS: that ‘general amnesty’ of banned Twitter users could bring *62,000* suspended accounts back from the dead, including ~75 with at least 1 million followers. With @ZoeSchiffer https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twitter.com/...
@zoeschiffer @zoeschiffer on x
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://www.platformer.news…
@nickmartin Nick Martin on x
This Twitter account bought an $8 @elonmusk verification badge and named itself after a day in the future when neo-Nazis fantasize they will lynch all supposed “race traitors.” Twitter says it doesn't violate the the platform's safety policies. https://twitter.com/...
@jamesrbuk James Ball on x
Broader plot here too, I think: large swathes of the tech industry are trying to show they're more than just advertising - and coming up short. If anything, heading in the opposite direction - Amazon is increasingly an ad company, plus Netflix, Disney+, etc. https://twitter.com/.…
@zerohedge @zerohedge on x
Gates of hell status: Open TWITTER IS REINSTATING ROUGHLY 62,000 ACCOUNTS THAT WERE SUSPENDED - PLATFORMER REPORTER TWEET https://twitter.com/...
@jessehawken Jesse Hawken on x
So Mr Free Speech is only bringing back suspended accounts that had upwards of five-figure follower counts. https://twitter.com/...
@jackposobiec @jackposobiec on x
BREAKING: Twitter has begun the process of reinstating roughly 62,000 accounts with more than 10,000 followers, Platformer has learned, including one account that has over 5 million followers, and 75 accounts with over 1 million followers https://www.platformer.news/ ...
@kept_simple @kept_simple on x
you suspended a guy I thought was funny because he tweeted an unaltered photo of you with ghislaine maxwell https://twitter.com/...
@alexhern @alexhern on x
A subplot here is that the tech sector is increasingly admitting that it screwed up the last decade, failed to build anything of meaningful value, and spent years chasing phantoms. But rather than look inward, leaders are casting for others to blame https://www.platformer.news/ .…
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
Twitter advertisers must be stoked https://twitter.com/...
@nkulw Noah Kulwin on x
reconstituting the library of Alexandria by giving back TonyStark1488 his account https://twitter.com/...
@martinsfp @martinsfp on x
Twitter's ‘Big Bang’ is underway but “could cause more instability at Twitter at a time when the company is hemorrhaging engineering talent, according to current employees. Each reinstatement requires Twitter to rebuild a social graph” https://www.platformer.news/ ... https://twi…
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
Elon Musk's Twitter Amnesty - Twitter has begun the process of reinstating 62,000 accounts with 10,000+ followers - 1 account has over 5 million followers - 75 accounts have 1+ million followers - Employees have referred to this event as “the Big Bang” https://open.substack.com/.…
@swombat Daniel Tenner on x
This has vibes of the Joker taking over Arkham asylum and releasing all the inmates into Gotham... https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Twitter is no longer enforcing its Covid-19 misleading information policy. This addendum to the policy (highlighted in orange below) spotted overnight by some eagle-eyed Twitter users. Twitter says 11,000 accounts were suspended under the policy. https://blog.twitter.com/... http…
@justin_hart Justin Hart on x
Victory! @elonmusk has KILLED the Twitter Covid policy. (Or maybe he wasn't wearing a mask around it and it died)... yep. Let's go! Try out YOUR WORST “misinformation” tweet below and see if it holds :) https://twitter.com/...
@sarafischer Sara Fischer on x
FWIW, @Meta's COVID-19 misinformation policies are still in place, a spox confirmed https://twitter.com/...
@brikeilarcnn Brianna Keilar on x
Twitter is no longer enforcing its Covid misinformation policy that was once hailed by the Surgeon General as an example of what companies should do to combat misinformation. From ⁦@donie⁩ https://www.cnn.com/...
@angie_rasmussen Dr. Angela Rasmussen on x
Twitter: now with even more shamelessly anti-vax content! https://twitter.com/...
@donmoyn Don Moynihan on x
Musk has been tweeting obsessively about free speech, but has said nothing about some of the specifics. Twitter dropped its Covid misinformation policy since Nov 23. No announcement. Is it a deliberate decision or do they no longer have the staff to do it? https://twitter.com/...
@donmoyn Don Moynihan on x
Most are reflexively for “free speech” which is why it is used by those pushing misinformation. But if you frame it in terms of specifics, like whether a social media company should let misinformation on a pandemic run wild, the response would be different https://www.cnn.com/...
@justin_hart Justin Hart on x
The sharp eye of the soon-to-be-resurrected @ewoodhouse7 pointed out that the Covid policy seems to be GONE from Twitter's safety page. Check her substack! https://woodhouse.substack.com/ ... I just confirmed and saw this on the transparency page of Twitter: https://transparency.…
@alx @alx on x
BREAKING: Twitter has stopped enforcing it's COVID-19 Misinformation Policy as of November 23rd https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Overnight, @ZoeSchiffer and @CaseyNewton reported details of some of the accounts whose bans will be lifted. I'd imagine there is quite a bit of overlap between the 11,000 suspended Covid accounts and this. https://twitter.com/...
@alx @alx on x
Interesting to note. The highest peak in Suspensions under Twitter's COVID-19 Misinformation Policy came in January 2022 where there were 2.2k Accounts Suspended. https://twitter.com/...
@stillgray Ian Miles Cheong on x
Curiously most bans happened earlier this year, peaking with 2.2k bans in January 2022. What happened then? https://twitter.com/...
@stillgray Ian Miles Cheong on x
Twitter has released a full transparency report on its past actions to clamp down on COVID-19 “misinformation.” As of Nov 23, it will no longer enforce any suppression on the topic. 11,230 accounts were banned in total since Jan 2020 under the policy. https://transparency.twitter…
@jamesmelville James Melville on x
Twitter has stopped enforcing it's COVID-19 misinformation policy - in effect from November 23rd. https://twitter.com/...
@donie Donie O'Sullivan on x
Twitter's own data shows 11,000 accounts were suspended under the policy and almost 100,000 pieces of content were removed since 2020. Possibility now of course that Musk will restore many of the suspended/banned accounts. https://transparency.twitter.com/ ...: https://twitter.co…
@derekwillis Derek Willis on x
Look, it's congressional Twitter account follower data from @propublica in this @washingtonpost joint: https://t.co/ZFeagko9mo https://t.co/XaR8s5R6Rd
@maxberger Max Berger on x
Politicians who gained over 200k followers since Musk took over Twitter: - Jim Jordan - Marjorie Taylor Greene - Ted Cruz Politicians who lost over 200k followers since Musk took over Twitter: - Bernie Sanders - Elizabeth Warren It's not giving centrist. https://twitter.com/...

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