Does Reinstating Trump's Twitter Account Matter?

Not really--instead, what deserves our attention is the janky way it happened--and what that says about the future of a global media platform

It’s Thanksgiving week, and many of you will be traveling. While in the car, why not listen to my new podcast? There are four episodes up, and one more—Slate legal journalist Dahlia Lithwick talks about her new book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America (Penguin Press, 2022)—dropping Friday. So, subscribe for free on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Soundcloud, and never miss an episode! The podcast and program notes will be on this platform.

And it’s the holiday season!

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In the middle of the dysfunction and chaos that now characterizes our Twitter experience, we are beginning to see how owner Elon Musk’s free speech policies will play out. Some restored accounts are flying under the radar: I have seen minimal reporting, for example, on the return of extremist Georgia congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene’s personal account. Greene, who represents Georgia’s 14th congressional district, was “permanently suspended” for multiple violations, which included spreading disinformation about the Covid pandemic, election denialism, and inciting insurrection. Now she is back, exchanging Covid conspiracy thoughts with Bill Clinton accuser and anti-vaxxer Juanita Broaddrick (whose account was also just restored), accusing Big Tech of being populated with “commies,” and fluffing Alex Jones.

But the big question about reinstatement has always been: would Musk restore Donald Trump’s account, as he promised before he was forced to go through with the purchase? There was little doubt in my mind that he would: these are corporate decisions, after all, not legal ones. Furthermore, Musk’s political philosophy (such as it can be discerned) appears to align with—or at least run parallel to—MAGA thinking. Nevertheless, like all good autocrats, Musk put on a show of democratic decision-making before doing what he had already decided to do. On Friday, November 18, 2022, he launched a poll asking users to weigh in on whether Trump should be reinstated. “Yes” prevailed over“no” by 3.6 points, with 15,085,458 Twitter users, Russian and Chinese disinformation agents, and spam bots weighing in.