- Elon Musk tweeted on Friday that he will be "digging" into shadowbans as he takes over Twitter.
- His acquisition has sparked hopes among conservatives who have been restricted by the site.
- Right-wing politicians and pundits have started calling on Musk to make changes to Twitter.
Elon Musk said on Friday he'll be "digging" into shadowbans on his first day owning Twitter after pledging to reduce the amount of moderation.
The self-styled "free speech absolutist" made the comment in response to a tweet by right-wing commentator Catturd.
"As of now, I'm still Shadowbanned, ghost banned, search banned, and Twitter removed 1200 followers today - as usual," Catturd, whose identity is not known, posted on Friday. They plan to report daily until some change is evident.
Musk, who finalized his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform on Thursday, responded to the tweet by saying he would be "digging in more today."
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022Shadowbanning, or ghost banning, occurs when a social media platform stops a user's content from showing up without notifying them.
Twitter has previously stated that it does not shadowban users, but instead "ranks tweets to create a more relevant experience" for them.
Musk has previously been critical of Twitter's content-moderation policies, tweeting in September that he was being "suppressed" on the app.
He also claimed to be a victim of shadowbanning himself earlier this year after he made a "joke" about Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates gaining weight. Immediately after, he tweeted: "Shadowban council reviewing tweet," alongside an image of six hooded people apparently in discussion.
Some right-wing politicians and pundits celebrated Musk's acquisition on Friday and started calling on him to make changes.
Conservative commentators Piers Morgan and Ben Shaprio have both asked Musk to restore controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson's account. Meanwhile British far-right and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, asked the billionaire in a video to reinstate his account.
Even the editor-in-chief of the pro-war, Kremlin-funded Russia Today channel asked Musk for help. Margarita Simonyan wrote on Thursday: "Elon, since you're all for free speech, maybe unban RT and Sputnik accounts and take the shadow ban off mine as well?"
There are also fears among advertisers of a potential return by former President Donald Trump, who was banned from the app after the Capitol riot last year.
Twitter said on January 8 that it had permanently suspended Trump's account "due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
Musk has fired four top executives including Vijaya Gadde, a top Twitter legal and policy executive, who led the team that decided to ban Trump.
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