Aave founder Stani Kulechov’s Twitter account has been banned. The ban comes a day after Kulechov tweeted that he had joined Twitter as interim CEO.
Twitter took “the most serious enforcement action” by permanently banning the account of Aave founder Stani Kulechov. Kulechov’s verified account was suspended on Thursday, a day after he tweeted that he had joined Twitter as interim CEO. The tweet caused confusion as to whether it was serious or a joke. Earlier this week, Twitter accepted Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover offer that would make the social media company private. However, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal will remain CEO of the company until the deal is made. The deal is expected to close later this year, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals.
suspension in light of Musk’s call for freedom of speech
Aave is a popular DeFi lending platform and Kulechov has more than 170,000 followers on Twitter . The suspension of Kulechov’s Twitter account coincided with Musk’s fierce defense of free speech. In fact, this is one of the main reasons he bought Twitter. “Free speech is the cornerstone of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where issues vital to the future of humanity are discussed,” Musk said earlier this week.
Musk later tweeted, “By freedom of speech I mean only what is lawful. “I am against censorship that goes beyond the law,” he said.
Kulechov will not be allowed to create new accounts per Twitter rules as his account suspension is permanent. “When we permanently suspend an account, we notify people that they have been suspended for abuse violations and explain what policy or policies they have violated and what content has been violated,” the Rules say.
Violators can appeal a permanent suspension if they believe Twitter has made a mistake. Upon appeal, if Twitter determines that the suspension applies, it will respond to the appeal with information about the policy the account violated.
It is unclear whether Kulechov will appeal. Neither Kulichov nor Twitter have yet made a statement.