Kanye West has made a return to Twitter after and eight month suspension — and the social media giant’s owner, Elon Musk, has rewarded the embattled rapper with a gold check.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk reinstated Ye’s account on Saturday (July 29), with the proviso that the “Stronger” rapper not use the platform to share antisemitic or other harmful language.
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However, Musk also made clear that West won’t be able to monetize his Twitter platform, nor will advertisements appear next to his Tweets.
Twitter’s Help Center stipulates: “Any organization that purchases a subscription to Verified Organizations will receive a gold checkmark and square avatar if they are a business or non-profit, or a grey checkmark and square avatar if they are a governmental or multilateral organization.”
Ryan Mac, a tech reporter for The New York Times, claimed that the company chose to give West a gold checkmark because “Ye” is the rapper’s company. “The company tells me that Kanye’s account has a gold check because it views “Ye” as Kanye West’s overall brand,” he tweeted on Saturday (July 29). “It’s unclear if he will run ads, but as a gold checkmark verified organization, he has the ability to do so.”
Musk didn’t issue a statement on his official Twitter account, but West was last suspended back in December 2022 after he tweeted out a picture of a swastika inside a Star of David.
Elon Musk — who acquired Twitter for $44billion back in October — considers himself a “free speech absolutist,” but decided that Ye’s tweet violated the company’s policies.
“I tried my best,” Musk tweeted in response to a fan asking him to “fix” Kanye. “Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended.”
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Kanye West also posted a photo of a topless Elon Musk being hosed down by Hollywood mogul Ari Emanuel on a yacht, but Musk clarified that had nothing to do with the rapper’s suspension.
“Just clarifying that his account is being suspended for incitement to violence, not an unflattering pic of me being hosed by Ari,” he wrote. “Frankly, I found those pics to be helpful motivation to lose weight!”
