Confusion reigned Friday over the status of Kanye West’s Twitter account after his billionaire friend Elon Musk completed his takeover of the company.
West’s Twitter account it was publicly viewable as of Friday, prompting several reports that Musk had his account reinstated. But the rapper has yet to tweet since his latest ban earlier this month.
On Friday afternoon, Musk tweeted that “Ye’s account was reset by Twitter prior to the acquisition. They didn’t consult me and they didn’t inform me.”
Earlier on Friday, Musk posted on Twitter that “Twitter will form a content moderation council with very diverse perspectives,” adding that “No major content decisions or account reinstatements will occur before that council convenes.”
Bloomberg reporter Kurt Wagner noted that the situation had caused “a lot of confusion,” reporting that West never lost control of his account despite a temporary freeze, citing unnamed sources.
“@Kanyewest was not banned or reinstated today. He was never stopped. His account was temporarily frozen,” Wagner wrote on Twitter. “That freeze was quickly lifted weeks ago, according to two sources. He’s been able to tweet for weeks.”
Wagner’s report contradicted a separate post from his newspaper, which previously said West’s account “appears to be no longer suspended.”
West’s account is being watched closely as a signal for how Musk plans to handle suspensions as Twitter’s new owner. West, who legally changed his name to “Ye” last year, was banned from the platform earlier this month after the rapper posted a series of anti-Semitic comments.
The Post has contacted Twitter for comment. The rapper has more than 31 million followers on Twitter.
Musk publicly commented when West returned to the platform on October 8 after a two-year hiatus, tweeting: “Welcome back to Twitter my friend!”. But West’s profile was soon suspended after he tweeted that he was going to “death 3 to the JEWISH PEOPLE.”
“This Tweet violated Twitter’s rules,” a message on West’s page still reads.
The most recent posts on West’s account are from October 9, when he questioned the origins of the cancellation culture and called on the public to support “Iranian youth” who were “leading a revolution against 44 years of dictatorship”.
Musk has made it clear on several occasions that he opposes the suspension of accounts on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Musk plans to end the practice of permanent bans on Twitter accounts, Bloomberg reported. He also indicated he would lift the permanent suspension of former President Donald Trump’s account, but had yet to do so as of Friday afternoon.
Several major brands, including Adidas and fashion house Balenciaga, have cut ties with West in response to his recent anti-Semitic comments. The loss of the Adidas deal cost West about $1.5 billion and knocked him out of the ranks of the world’s billionaires, according to Forbes.
Amid backlash over his comments, West announced earlier this month that he planned to buy social media platform Parler.
