Controversial rapper Kanye West is back on Twitter amid huge changes to the social media platform.
The musician, who has legally changed his name to Ye, had his account banned in December last year over offensive tweets.
West’s account now shows his posts, including his last from 1 December – the day before he was removed from the platform.
It’s a very different Twitter to the one West was last allowed on. Owner Elon Musk has been criticised since he took ownership in October of driving the popular site into the ground. Just last week, he rebranded it as X, prompting mockery from all corners of the internet.
West’s account was suspended – for the second time – following posts showing a swastika symbol inside a Star of David, praising Hitler and anti-Semitic content.
At the time, he seemed to make a joke of the situation, retweeting a post which suggested his track ‘Black Skinhead’ showed “the clues were there all along”.
X made the decision to rescind the ban after apparently receiving reassurance that Ye would not use the site to share or anti-Semitic or harmful language.
He will not be able to monetise his account and advertisements won’t appear next to his posts.
The rapper has yet to post anything new since his return to the platform but his reinstatement is not surprising thanks to Elon Musk’s views.
The absolutist and his fans
The billionaire owner of X calls himself a “free speech absolutist” and previously restored Donald Trump’s account after he was removed following the storming of the Capitol in January 2021.
While the disgraced former US president hasn’t used his account, preferring to stick with his own platform Truth Social, a number of other users in his shoes have taken advantage of the ban lifting.
Conservative psychologist Jordan Peterson was initially banned after allegedly harassing trans actor Elliott Page; Andrew Tate, famous for his misogynistic views, got his account back 5 years after it was blocked.
In 2017, Tate, who is currently under house arrest for charges including rape and human trafficking, was banned from Twitter after publishing controversial tweets saying that women should bear “some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted.
After having his account reinstated, an unrepentant Tate posted a video of himself smoking a cigar on an aeroplane with the caption “I’ve decided to fly to the failed state of California, walk into twitter HQ and tell @elonmusk he’s a legend”.
Comedian Kathy Griffin was one of the highest profile users to be kicked off the platform by Musk himself.
In early November 2022, she was removed after she impersonated Elon Musk, changing her Twitter name to his. Her ban was lifted two weeks later, prompting Musk to announce a new Twitter policy: “Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying ‘parody’ will be permanently suspended”.
Who’s still banned?
There remain a number of banned, high profile users still waiting for Musk’s approval for a return to X.
US rapper Azealia Banks has been banned from the platform on a number of occasions after making homophobic, transphobic and racist remarks. She was permanently removed from the site in June 2022.
Right wing British commentator Katie Hopkins was permanently suspended in 2020 for breaching Twitter’s “hateful conduct” policy, after voicing opposition to a school programme providing meals for hungry children.
Also falling foul of the policy was David Duke, the white supremacist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, who was also banned in 2020.
Under most owners of such an influential platform, it would be very unlikely for such figures to be allowed back into the fold. That’s not the case with Elon Musk, though.
In under a year, the billionaire has turned the popular site into an effective internet-based Wild West.
It now seems that literally anything could happen and, today, he proved that point further still. Sadly for the entirety of internet users, Musk announced he’s changed the renamed site’s tagline to the cringeworthy, “Blaze Your Glory”, a not-so-masked reference to Musk’s weed-smoking proclivities.
How low can X go?!
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