Banned Twitter accounts reinstated after Musk take over 2022, by number of followers

Social network Twitter, founded in 2006, was taken over by tech-billionaire Elon Musk at the end of October 2022. As the company's new CEO, Musk reinstated numerous Twitter accounts that had previously been banned from the platform. Recently reinstated conservative author and clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson currently has 3.5 million followers on Twitter, after being suspended in mid 2022.

Deplatforming public figures

Andrew Tate, a former kickboxing champion, had his Twitter account reinstated in November 2022 and has around 2.5 million followers. Tate had his Twitter account removed in 2017 due to controversial tweets about women, and in addition, found himself deplatformed from Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. American Rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, had his Twitter account reinstated on November 20th, 2022, but his Twitter presence was short-lived after getting suspended again two weeks later for making anti-semitic remarks. Many of the formerly banned accounts were suspended pre-Musk takeover due to their violations of Twitter's conduct, spam, or misinformation policies. Kathy Griffin is a notable exception, as the comedian was banned from Twitter after changing her original Twitter name to "Elon Musk", which ended up getting her removed from the platform in November 2022.

Will Donald Trump return to Twitter?

After Musk posted a Twitter poll asking followers if they believed the former president should be allowed to return to the network, the account of Donald Trump was restored. Of the 15 million votes, about 52 percent said Trump's account should be reinstated. It was permanently suspended in the days following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, due to the potential for inciting violence. The former president has since founded his own social network Truth Social and Trump's 87.8 million followers are yet to see him post on Twitter again.