Elon Musk reinstates Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin on Twitter – decision on Donald Trump ban hangs in the balance

Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced that several formerly suspended accounts have been reinstated. However, a decision regarding repealing the ban of former President Donald Trump has yet to be made.

Musk announced a "new Twitter policy" regarding freedom of speech that would penalize "negative" and "hate" tweets by diminishing their reach on the social media platform.

"New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach," Musk tweeted on Friday. "Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet."

Musk noted that only the "negative" tweets would be deboosted, but not the entire Twitter account.

Musk did not specify what qualifies a tweet to be "negative" or "hate" and did not say who would determine what tweets are harmful.

Musk then revealed that the Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin "have been reinstated."

However, he added, "Trump decision has not yet been made."

The Babylon Bee – a satirical political website – was suspended in March for posting an article titled: "The Babylon Bee's Man Of The Year Is Rachel Levine."

Levine is President Joe Biden's assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services. Levine is a biological male who is now openly transgender.

The post was flagged as "'hateful conduct," and the account was suspended.

The Babylon Bee responded to its reinstatement with a tweet that read: "We're back. Let that sink in."

The tweet references a pun Musk made last month when he first entered the Twitter headquarters while carrying a sink.

Peterson was banned in July for "hateful conduct" regarding tweets mentioning Elliot Page. The professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toronto called Page the previous name before the transgender transition or what is known as deadnaming. Deadnaming is referring to a transgender person as the name that was used before the transition.

Griffin was suspended earlier this month for impersonating Musk. Even before Musk took over Twitter, it was against the social media network's terms of service to impersonate someone.

Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021. Twitter said Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

Glenn Beck interviewed Trump on Election Day and asked if he plans to return to Twitter.

"You know, I have something that I think you're familiar with," Trump told Beck. "I have something called 'Truth [Social],' and Truth has been amazing. Actually, I like it better ... and I own Truth also, to be honest with you. So, it's become quite valuable. We have, you know, millions of people on there — millions — and it's gaining rapidly."