Twitter suspends Kanye West's account again after swastika post

Twitter Inc on Friday suspended the account of the artist formerly known as Kanye West again, just two months since being reinstated, after Elon Musk said the rapper violated the platform's rules prohibiting incitement to violence.

The billionaire owner of Twitter, who calls himself a free speech absolutist, had welcomed the return of the rapper, now known as Ye, to the platform in October.

"I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence. Account will be suspended," Musk tweeted in reply to a Twitter user who said "Elon Fix Kanye Please".

Ye, who had more than 30 million followers on Twitter before his suspension, did not respond to requests for comment.

Ye's account showed a notice that it was suspended, after one of his posts had earlier appeared to show a swastika symbol inside a Star of David.

Musk has in the past few months expressed his desire to have fewer limits on content that can be posted on Twitter. He said last week the platform would provide a "general amnesty" to some suspended accounts.

Last month, Twitter reinstated some previously suspended accounts, including that of former US president Donald Trump.

It was not immediately clear if Ye would be allowed back on Twitter and the company did not respond to requests for comment.

The rapper and fashion designer has been dropped by major corporate partners including Adidas AG ADSGn.DE and seen his posts removed by platforms such as Instagram because of antisemitic remarks and outbursts on social media against other celebrities.

The multiple Grammy award-winning artist also abandoned his plans to buy Parler less than two months after announcing a deal for the social media platform popular among US conservatives.