(RightWing.org) – Since Elon Musk took over Twitter last October, the social media giant has reinstated many conservative accounts that had been banned under the previous owners, but the platform’s algorithms still aren’t perfect. Last week a Republican senator’s account was suspended for allegedly violating Twitter’s policies. However, within hours the tech company reversed course and unblocked him — and is now improving its policies.
I’m free! Thanks, @elonmusk. https://t.co/reDuCwf4Q2
— Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) February 7, 2023
Senator Steve Daines has been the Republican junior senator from Montana for eight years. A Bozeman resident and former business operations manager, he’s also a keen outdoorsman and enjoys mountain climbing and hunting with his wife. Unfortunately, his love of hunting is what landed him in trouble with Twitter.
Daines’s Twitter profile pic is a photo of him and his wife posing with a dead pronghorn he had shot. On February 7, Twitter noticed the photo, decided it violated their policy on “graphic violence or adult content in profile images,” and immediately suspended Daines’s account. The company also told Daines the suspension would last until he deleted the image. The senator immediately protested, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee backed him up, calling the decision “insane.”
Unlike in the bad old days of Jack Dorsey and his ultra-liberal management team, it turns out that Twitter now actually listens to its users. Within hours, Daines’s account had been unlocked, and Musk sent a tweet saying the policy on blood in profile pics is being made less restrictive. Under the new policy, Daines can keep his photo.
Since Musk bought Twitter last year, many formerly banned accounts — most of them right-leaning — have been reinstated. They include Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), satirical “News” source The Babylon Bee, popular psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative media group Project Veritas. Former president Donald Trump prefers to stay on his own Truth Social platform for now, but Musk has said he can start tweeting again, too, if he wants. Twitter’s days as a far-left echo chamber seem to be over at last.
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