X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has reinstated the account of the artist formerly known as Kanye West, who now goes by “Ye.”
The account had been suspended about eight months ago due to violations of the platform’s rules against incitement to violence.
According to Al Jazeera, “Upon the account’s reinstatement, Ye’s last post from December 1 reappeared, showing the moment just before his suspension on the Twitter platform, which Elon Musk had rebranded as X.”
However, Ye will not be allowed to monetize his account on X, and his posts will not display any advertisements alongside them, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing the social media platform’s policies.
Ye’s account had previously been suspended in December after sharing a post that seemed to display a swastika inside a Star of David, leading Musk to label it as “incitement to violence.” This was just two months after Ye’s initial reinstatement.
X decided to restore Ye’s account after receiving assurances that he would not use the platform to share anti-Semitic or harmful content, according to an insider.
“Since his return, Ye has not made any new posts on the platform. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, considers himself a strong advocate of free speech and had welcomed Kanye West’s return to the platform in October, after the first reinstatement.”
Mr Musk had previously restored former US President Donald Trump’s account after conducting a poll, where 14.8 million Twitter users voted, with 51.8 per cent in favour of reinstatement. However, Trump had expressed no interest in returning to Twitter and instead opted to use his new platform, Truth Social, according to reports.
The anti-Semitic remarks made by Ye last year had significant consequences for him, resulting in lost business deals. Adidas, with whom he had a partnership spanning nearly a decade for his Yeezy-branded sneakers, severed ties with him.
The fallout continued as Gap and Balenciaga also cut ties with the rapper and designer.
The end of the successful collaboration with West caused Adidas to report a sales drop of approximately 400 million euros ($441 million) in the first quarter of the year.