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Elon Musk Wanted to Reinstate Babylon Bee on Day One at Twitter

 2 years ago
source link: https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-wanted-reinstate-babylon-bee-day-one-at-twitter-2022-11
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Elon Musk wanted to reinstate a right-wing satire account on day one as Twitter chief

5 hours ago
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Elon Musk

Elon Musk sent Twitter staff a memo on Thursday confirming job cuts would be announced on Friday. Carina Johansen/Getty Images

  • Elon Musk expressed interest in reinstating the Babylon Bee's twitter account hours after he took over.
  • According to The Washington Post, Musk thought the right-wing satire site shouldn't have been banned.
  • The Babylon Bee had called Biden health official Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman, "Man of the Year." 
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Elon Musk had his sights set on bringing back the Twitter account for right-wing, Christian satire website The Babylon Bee on day one as Twitter's CEO in October. The account had been banned for anti-trans tweets aimed at a member of the Biden administration. 

The site's account was reinstated on Sunday, three weeks after his takeover of Twitter.

Divisive and previously banned figures like Kanye West and former President Donald Trump have also had their accounts restored by Musk in recent days.

According to The Washington Post, when Musk took over in October, one of his main directives was to reactivate the Babylon Bee account that called Biden health official Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman, "Man of the Year." 

The tweet violated a 2018 rule that prohibits discrimination against transgender people related to genders or names used before transitioning.

The Post reported that in the days after Musk took over he met with lawyer Alex Spiro and the head of Twitter's Trust and Safety team Yoel Roth and said that the Babylon Bee's tweet was "not cool," but that it was not a "sticks and stones" violation, like a violent threat.

Weeks before Musk's purchase, ex-wife Talulah Riley texted Musk criticizing the platform's decision to ban The Babylon Bee and calling for him to reverse the decision and make the platform "radically free speech."

After Musk's $44 billion purchase in October, he has whittled down the company's staff from some 7,500 employees to less than 3,000 employees as of last week. Employees who have stayed on have reported working over 80-hour weeks and sleeping at the office. Musk has encouraged workers to be "extremely hardcore" going forward.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.


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