Kanye West Returns to Twitter; Elon Musk welcomes ‘friend’

Kanye West posted on Twitter Inc. for the first time in nearly two years. Among those who welcomed his return was Elon Musk, who’s poised to buy the social media network.

West, who now goes by Ye, late Friday posted a photograph of a hat that said 2024. He followed that with another picture of himself with Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, accusing the latter of kicking him off Instagram.

Instagram deleted content and placed a restriction on West’s account after he violated the site’s policies, a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed response to queries. While the spokesperson didn’t specify what rules were violated, NBC reported that West had made a now-deleted post that was seen by some groups as anti-Semitic.

It’s not the first time Instagram has suspended West. In March, he was previously locked out from his account for a day for violating the social media platform’s policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment.

Prior to this week, the rapper and businessman last posted on Twitter in November 2020, just after the last US presidential election. He had previously received a temporary ban from the social network for posting private information of another individual, and also faced criticism from other Twitter users for his political views.

Musk responded to West, saying “Welcome back to Twitter, my friend.” The Tesla CEO this week this week reinstated his $44 billion offer to buy Twitter, saying he wants to create an “everything app” that could rival TikTok and WeChat.

He has said he will prioritize free speech on Twitter and criticized its decision to ban individuals such as former President Donald Trump for violating its rules.