Elon Musk’s
Ms Hopkins and Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, were reinstated after Mr Musk responded to a tweet pointing out that they were still banned from the platform.
Mr Musk said on Sunday: “Why are their accounts on this platform? Freedom of expression is allowed, provided the laws are not broken.”
The decision comes days after Twitter chief Linda Yaccarino met with advertising executives in London in an attempt to lure them back to the platform. Companies have removed the ads from Twitter amid concerns about a rollback of moderation policies and nervousness about Musk’s erratic management style.
Ms. Hopkins was permanently suspended in 2020 after what Twitter said was a violation of its hateful conduct policy.
She previously posted claims that a photo of a Syrian child’s body on a Turkish beach was staged and also tweeted “we need a final solution” after the Manchester bombings.
She left radio station LBC shortly after the latter post in 2017 and also parted ways with Mail Online shortly afterwards.
Twitter did not say which posts prompted its ban.
Mr Robinson was banned from the platform in 2018 after he tweeted: “Islam promotes killing people”.
Musk, who describes himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has reinstated many controversial accounts since buying Twitter for $44 billion a year ago.
This also applies to Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended after the riots in the US Capitol in January 2021, and the rapper Kanye West, who was suspended for anti-Semitic messages.
In response to a post celebrating Ms Hopkins’ reinstatement and attributing her original ban to pressure from campaign group the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Mr Musk tweeted: “CCDH is an evil propaganda machine”.
Musk has a long-standing feud with the CCDH and Twitter, now called
After her ban was lifted, Ms. Hopkins tweeted: “Thank you @elonmusk. And thanks to the entire Twitter family for bringing Tommy and I back to @X. Know this. You are not alone. There are many of us. And together we are stronger. The fight for your freedom has begun.”
Mr Robinson tweeted: “I’m grateful to @elonmusk for giving me my voice back at such an important time. I have been censored, attacked, vilified, and imprisoned for shining a light on uncomfortable truths that our government wants to hide. The public is now aware that I told the truth. We have a lot to do.”
Mr Robinson was jailed in 2019 after being found in contempt of court for livestreaming images of suspects in a criminal trial, despite a reporting ban.
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