Musk takes over Twitter: A list of banned accounts which may get restored

Billionaire Elon Musk on Friday completed his $44 billion Twitter buyout deal, after months of speculation. Soon after the deal, Twitter's new top boss tweeted that 'the bird has been freed'. Musk on several occasions, in the past, has highlighted the significance of free speech and how he would try and make the platform more inclusive.

Ever since Musk took over Twitter, the internet was divided- while many supported his buyout deal, speculating more inclusion and free speech, others sound caution, including former Congress leader Sanjay Jha, who said, "Musk firing top Twitter team immediately on acquiring it upends basic leadership principles."

After closing out the deal, Musk fired top four executives of the micro-blogging platform, including its CEO Parag Agrawal and Vijaya Gadde. Within hours of Musk taking over the platform, Kanye West's Twitter account was restored, which was suspended for his anti-Semitic remarks. 

The new Twitter head has vowed to restore banned accounts. Here's a list of accounts which may get restored:

Donald Trump

Former president of the United States, Donald Trump is one of the prominent public figures who's account was permanently banned from the micro-blogging platform. Trump's account was blocked days after the US Capitol attack in 2021. 

Kangana Ranaut

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut took to Instagram to hail Musk's takeover of the social-media platform. Ranaut was permanently suspended from Twitter in May 2021, following her repeated violations of the company's abusive behaviour and hateful conduct policies. Ranaut often used the platform to voice her criticism of the liberals.

Abhijeet Bhattacharya

Indian playback singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya's Twitter account was suspended in 2017. The account was suspended after the playback singer posted a series of 'offensive tweets' especially against women. Bhattacharya's colleague from the industry, Sonu Nigam also removed his account as a sign of solidarity. Days after his account was suspended, Bhattacharya created a new account, which was also taken down by the platform.

Steve Bannon

Stephen Kevin Bannon is a media executive, political strategist, and a former investment banker in the US. He served as the chief strategist in White House in Donald Trump's government. Bannon was also the chief executive officer of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. His account on Twitter was permanently suspended in November 2020 after he suggested that the federal government's infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be executed.

Michael Flynn

Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired US Army lieutenant general, who was the 24th US National Security Advisor. Flynn was in office only for 22 days during Trump's administration. He resigned later following the reports that he lied regarding conversations with Sergey Kislak. His Twitter account was permanently banned on January 8, 2021 for his support to QAnon conspiracy theory.

Roger Stone

Roger Stone is an ally of the former US president Donald Trump. His Twitter account was banned in 2017 for harassment of CNN journalists. 

Aubrey Huff

Former professional American baseball player Aubrey Huff was banned from the micro-blogging platform in August 2021 for violation of rules. Huff was banned for his repeated violations of Covid-19 misleading information policy of the platform.

Martin Shkreli

Former drug executive and hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, had his account suspended permanently on account of sexual harassment of journalist Lauren Duca.