US Senator Steve Daines has been censored by Twitter for posting a profile image of himself and his spouse proudly posing with a lifeless antelope whereas on a searching journey.

The Montana Republican’s account was reinstated on Tuesday, hours after Twitter suspended him for allegedly violating its coverage in opposition to posting graphic imagery or grownup content material. Daines stated the offending picture was his searching photograph. Twitter supplied no clarification in restoring the account, which nonetheless featured the identical profile image.

“I’m free,” Daines proclaimed in a Twitter submit celebrating his reinstatement. “Thanks Elon Musk.” He later issued an announcement thanking Musk for resolving the problem after listening to about it, saying he’s glad that Twitter’s proprietor “acknowledges that free speech is a bedrock of our nation.”

Senator Ted Cruz (Texas), former president Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and different Republicans had expressed outrage over the suspension. Social media suspensions of politicians, together with then-president Trump himself, had been beforehand widespread, however Musk vowed to make Twitter a bastion of free speech when he agreed to purchase the corporate for $44 billion final yr. The billionaire entrepreneur accomplished the acquisition in October and shortly drew criticism for censoring some content material, akin to posts that reveal an individual’s stay location.

On the similar time, Musk has confronted strain from regulators to censor content material that they discover objectionable. After Musk pledged in November to be extra “clear and even-handed” than Twitter had been up to now, the European Union’s inside market commissioner, Thierry Breton, threatened to ban the platform. Breton made a number of calls for, together with bolstered content material moderation to “sort out disinformation.”

Throughout Daines’ suspension, his posts relationship way back to final Friday had been tagged with an announcement noting that they had been briefly unavailable due to a coverage violation. The assertion linked to Twitter’s coverage on delicate media.

On the time of the choice, Daines had been posting tweets criticizing President Joe Biden’s dealing with of an alleged Chinese language spy balloon that crossed the nation final week. “This was actually extra of a trial balloon by the Chinese language,” Daines stated on Monday in a Fox Information interview. “They took a have a look at how decisive is that this president. The president was indecisive. He projected weak spot at this second. It was precisely what the Chinese language needed to see occur.”