Which High-Profile Celebs Have Been Slapped With Twitter Bans?

Since Tesla CEO Elon Musk officially took control of Twitter after completing his $44 billion acquisition, speculation has been rife as to what the billionaire tech guru would do with the social media platform.

Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk, who finally took over Twitter on October 27, buying it for $44 billion, has been tight-lipped regarding the changes he has up his sleeve for the social media network.

After discarding several top Twitter executives and hinting at more personnel shakeups in store for the microblogging website, the self-proclaimed "Chief Twit" has given no indication regarding looming decisions on content moderation or reinstating banned accounts. Specifically, Musk said that such moves would be scrutinized by a “content moderation council” embracing “diverse viewpoints.”

Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.

No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

However, speculation has been rife among Twitter users as to whether the world’s richest man may welcome back onto the platform some of the famous and influential figures that have been banned for violating Twitter’s rules. Ex-President Donald Trump, who was kicked off the platform in 2021, applauded the fact that Twitter was “now in sane hands,” as he touted his own social media site, Truth Social.

In the digital age, maintaining a prominent social media presence has become imperative for government officials and notable personalities in all walks of life. However, over the years, online platforms have been developing increased policing rules to react to the behavior of users and the content they post.

Here are some of the prominent figures who have at some point run afoul of these rules and been ditched by the Twitter platform.

Roger Stone

Donald Trump's former campaign adviser Roger Stone, banned from Twitter in 2017, was one of the first to voice the hope that Elon Musk’s acquisition would allow him back onto the social media platform. “I’m anxious to see how strong Elon Musk’s commitment to free speech is,” the American author and strategist wrote in April, when Twitter accepted Musk's offer to acquire the company.

Stone was originally suspended from Twitter for lashing out at CNN reporters Jake Tapper and Don Lemon and New York Times columnist Charles Blow, who were reporting on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election. Stone wielded derogatory verbal broadsides at what he slammed as "fake news."

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s years-long investigation into Democrat-spouted claims of criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian officials during the 2016 presidential election established that the accusations were unsubstantiated.

"The battle against free speech has just begun. This is a strange way to do business and part and parcel of the systematic effort by the tech left to censor and silence conservative voices," Stone told US media after his Twitter ban. In 2019, Stone was sentenced to 40 months in prison for procedural crimes associated with Robert Mueller's Russiagate investigation. However, Trump commuted his sentence in July 2020, and then fully pardoned him in December 2020.

Alex Jones

Alex Jones, radio host and founder of conspiracy website InfoWars, was kicked off Twitter in 2018, with his account "permanently suspended" along with his outlet. Twitter cited reports of tweets and videos that “violate our abusive behavior policy."

YouTube, Apple, Facebook*, and Spotify all banned Jones' main platforms for “inciting hatred or violence” and peddling conspiracy theories. Jones faced tremendous backlash and multiple lawsuits over claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was “faked.” He has since apologized for these claims.

Milo Yiannopoulos

In 2016, Twitter announced it had moved to permanently suspend the user accounts of British-born activist and former Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos for "abuse" of comedian and “Ghostbusters” actress Leslie Jones. Yiannopoulos, known for his harsh criticism of feminism, social justice, and political correctness, triggered backlash after expressing controversial statements on immigration and Islam. In 2017, Yiannopoulos resigned after a video emerged where he seemingly spoke in favor of sexual relationships between men and younger boys.

After the ban, the journalist stated:

"Like all acts of the totalitarian regressive left, this will blow up in their faces, netting me more adoring fans. We’re winning the culture war, and Twitter just shot themselves in the foot.”

Steve Bannon

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon had his Twitter account blocked in November 2020 for violating its "policy on the glorification of violence." In comments made in a video posted to his Twitter account, as well as other social media sites, Bannon suggested that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and FBI Director Christopher Wray should be fired, as he echoed then-President Donald Trump’s claim that he had won reelection. Furthermore, Bannon, then indicted for wire fraud and awaiting trial, said:

"I'd actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I'd put their heads on pikes, right, I'd put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats, you either get with the program or you're gone."

Donald Trump

Prolific Twitter user and then-POTUS Donald Trump had his account banned temporarily on January 7, 2021, after his use of the platform to claim the results of the 2020 presidential election were rigged to favor his opponent, Democrat Joe Biden. Following a riot at the US Capitol on 6 January, when Trump supporters attempted to block the certification of the presidential election results and stormed the building, temporarily disrupting the work of the joint session of Congress, Trump was suspended permanently after allegedly violating the social media network’s policies regarding the incitement of violence. Donald Trump’s supporters regarded the move as an act of censorship and voiced their concerns about social media giants’ impact on free speech online.

As a result of the Capitol events, five people, including a police officer, died. Trump was also banned on Facebook*, Instagram*, and Snapchat. Accused of "incitement of insurrection" and impeached by the US House of Representatives, Trump was later acquitted by the US Senate in a trial weeks after he left office. The former POTUS denied wrongdoing, while denouncing the committee’s work as a ‘witch-hunt’. Last month, Trump said that he has no intention to return to Twitter, even if his account were to be reinstated, and he preferred to stick with his own app, called Truth Social.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

US Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had her personal Twitter account permanently suspended on January 2, 2022 for ostensibly repeated violations of the platform’s policy regarding COVID-19 misinformation. Greene’s final tweets “falsely referenced ‘extremely high amounts of covid vaccine deaths," US media reports said. Previously, Twitter had repeatedly suspended Greene’s account for "sharing misinformation" about the pandemic. In response to the lasting measure by the platform, Greene slammed the site as an "enemy to America" that "can't handle the truth."

Kanye West

Twitter "restricted" American rapper Kanye West's account in October following a slew of rants on social media and in TV interviews that were perceived as anti-Semitic. Such accounts cannot post or interact on the platform, while remaining visible on the service. The “Jesus Walks” musician and fashion mogul, 45, now going by the name of “Ye,” had written he was going to go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE” in a social media post.

He also alleged that Jews control the music industry and the media. Not long afterwards, prominent fashion house Balenciaga and sportswear giant Adidas, as well as retailer Gap Inc., Vogue Magazine, and talent agency CAA sought to distance themselves from Kanye West.

*Meta is a company banned in Russia over extremism.