Elon Musk Reinstates Jordan Peterson’s Twitter Account

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover hasn’t been going very well. It’s been plagued with terrible decisions, celebrity backlash, and mass firings and resignations. However, perhaps no one would be surprised by the Tesla CEO’s most recent decision: He reinstated Jordan Peterson’s Twitter account. Peterson was banned back in June after making transphobic comments about actor Elliot Page, but Musk has always been a fan of “free speech” (in quotes for a reason” and decided to let Peterson back on the platform.

  1. Jordan Peterson confirmed his Twitter return with… a tweet. On Friday, Peterson hopped on his (verified) account to tweet “I’m back. Thanks @elonmusk” alongside a screencap of Jack Nicholson’s crazed expression from “The Shining.”
  2. Musk himself seemed to think the decision warranted an announcement. He took to his own account to write: “Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated. Trump decision has not yet been made.” Lest we forget, Kathy Griffin was banned from Twitter for impersonating Elon Musk. It seems his decision to reverse her ban was something of an olive branch. Meanwhile, The Babylon Bee was a conservative parody account that was banned for hate speech earlier this year.
  3. Twitter is continuing to tank very quickly. Not only is the content becoming more blatantly hateful and unmoderated, but on Friday, more than 1,000 Twitter employees walked out, per Reuters, including those working in key sectors responsible for keeping Twitter operational. The lack of staff willing to work with Musk, along with the site’s money trouble and people’s lack of desire to stay on such a hateful platform means Twitter may not be around for much longer. It was fun while it lasted!

Jennifer Still is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. The managing editor of Bolde, she has bylines in Vanity Fair, Business Insider, The New York Times, Glamour, Bon Appetit, and many more. You can follow her on Twitter @jenniferlstill
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