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Mike Lindell’s Twitter comeback was short-lived.
The MyPillow CEO’s Twitter
TWTR,
account was banned in 2021 over spreading misinformation about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and “repeated violation” of its civic integrity policy.. But on Sunday, he tried to make a new account.
“Hello everybody, I’M BACK ON TWITTER. My only account is @MikeJLindell! Please RT and FOLLOW to SPREAD THE WORD,” Lindell tweeted.
The account, which had a video of Lindell confirming the account was his and not a fake, was promptly taken down by Twitter after a few hours.
A Twitter spokesperson said that the latest ban was over a violation of the company’s evasion policy, which prohibits anyone from trying to circumvent a previous ban by creating a new account.
“Twitter reserves the right to also permanently suspend any other account we believe the same account holder or entity may be operating in violation of our earlier suspension,” Twitter’s rules state.
The move by Twitter comes as the company’s policy surrounding what constitutes free speech on the platform has become a hot-button issue. Twitter’s board recently accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion offer to buy the company. And there’s plenty of speculation over whether Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” will institute different rules on the platform surrounding “free speech” when and if his offer to buy the company is executed.
Musk has stated that his interest in Twitter has more to do with his belief in free speech, and less about the company as an investment.
“My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization,” Musk told a crowd at a TED Conference last month. “I don’t care about the economics at all.”
See also: Who is the richest person in the world? Jeff Bezos no longer owns the top spot.
It’s important to note that there is not a constitutional right for an individual to express themselves however they deem fit in a private facility, like at a place of business or on a social media platform. The First Amendment protects speech from censorship from the U.S. government, and not on social media platforms likeTwitter or Meta’s
FB,
Facebook and Instagram if the “speech” violates any company code of conduct rules.
Shares of Twitter Inc.
TWTR,
were up 1.16% during Monday morning trading, but are down 10.74% over the last 12 months.
Associated Press reporting contributed to this article.
