by - Twitter reinstated the account of an internet troll who pleaded guilty to a Capitol riot charge.
- The “Baked Alaska” account was suspended in 2017 for violating Twitter’s hateful conduct policy.
- The reinstatement appears to be part of Elon Musk’s plan to offer a “blanket amnesty” to suspended accounts.
Twitter reactivated the account suspension of Baked Alaska, the far-right troll also known as Tim Gionet, who pleaded guilty in July to misdemeanor parade, rally or picket inside a Capitol building on Jan. 6.
Gionet, who livestreamed his participation in the Capitol riots, was permanently banned from Twitter in 2017 for violating the platform’s hateful conduct policy.
He had used the social media platform to make antisemitic comments and post white nationalist content.
The internet personality, who participated in the deadly white nationalist Unite the Right rally in 2017, appears to have reset his account late Friday.
Insider has reached out to the social media platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, for comment, as Twitter no longer has a communications department.
The suspension of the Baked Alaska account follows Musk’s decision to reinstate the banned accounts that Platformer refers to as the “Big Bang.”
Shortly after reinstating former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, Musk polled users on whether he should offer a “blanket amnesty” to suspended accounts “as long as they haven’t broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.”
More than 3 million people voted, with 72.4% saying he should let the accounts come back, Insider reported.
“The people have spoken,” Musk responded. “The amnesty starts next week. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
Gionet, who faces up to six months in prison for pleading guilty to his Capitol riot charge, has yet to receive his jail sentence.
Gionet is also charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and attempted criminal mischief for an incident in which he allegedly defaced a Hanukkah display outside the Arizona State Capitol, according to Daily Beast.
Baked Alaska is among several controversial accounts that have been reinstated since Musk took over Twitter.
The internet troll celebrated the reinstatement on his Telegram channel, sharing an image purporting to be an email from Twitter informing him that his Twitter was back and that he had accidentally been marked as “spam.”
“Love you guys,” he wrote in a Telegram post. “We are back.”
In another post, he said he hasn’t been able to tweet yet because he’s on vacation and his two-factor authentication is tied to a phone he doesn’t currently have with him.
In an email to Insider, Gionet said: “All glory to God! Thank you Elon Musk and I’m getting ready for my first tweet. 5 years is a long time to spend in Twitter jail so I’m definitely thankful for another chance”. !”
