Twitter, now rebranded as X, restores Kanye West’s account after ban for antisemitism
Move comes 8 months after Elon Musk’s social media platform banned US rapper for posting swastika interlaced with Star of David; ADL chief calls latest move ‘absolutely sickening’
WASHINGTON, United States — X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, reinstated rapper and designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, on Saturday, around eight months after his account was suspended.
Last fall, West posted an image that appeared to show a swastika interlaced with a Star of David, and tycoon Elon Musk suspended the artist from the platform, which he had bought weeks earlier.
Musk at the time labeled West’s post as an “incitement to violence.”
X’s press office did not immediately respond to a query about West’s account. By Sunday morning, West had yet to post anything new.
West assured the platform he would not use his account to share antisemitic content or use harmful language, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that he won’t be able to monetize his account and that ads won’t appear next to his posts.
Antisemitic remarks by West last year, including detailing his admiration for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, cost him heavily in lost business deals. Adidas cut ties with him after a nearly decade-long partnership, abandoning his Yeezy-branded sneakers. In May, the German company said the end of its highly successful collaboration with West hit sales by about 400 million euros (US$441 million) in the first quarter of the year.
Gap and Balenciaga also cut ties with the rapper and designer.
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, tweeted that it was “absolutely sickening that antisemite Kanye West was unsuspended from Twitter/X and given a gold verification check mark. He’s done absolutely nothing to make amends.”
Greenblatt added: “I believe in counsel culture not cancel culture — but this approach only works when the offender demonstrates some measure of contrition and an openness to learn. We’ve seen zero from Kanye. But we have seen a surge of ugly antisemites on Twitter in the last six months — toxic white supremacists, rabid anti-Zionists, and now this. Why is anti-Jewish hate excused? overlooked? rationalized?”
Since Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October, he has fired thousands of employees and cut moderation of content.
In December, he reinstated former US president Donald Trump’s Twitter account, although Trump has yet to return to the platform.
A week ago, Musk and his newly hired chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, announced the rebranding of Twitter as X and said it would become an “everything app” that would allow users to handle all their finances as well as socializing.
Musk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing the world-recognized blue bird with a white X.
