Elon Musk's X, formerly Twitter, reinstates and verifies Kanye West's account

The rapper has yet to post on the rebranded social media site

Controversial US rapper Kanye West is now on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. AFP

Kanye West has had his account on the platform formerly known as Twitter reinstated after almost an eight-month ban.

Elon Musk's social media platform, now branded as X, revived the rapper's account on Saturday after suspending it in December.

West, who is listed under Ye – the name the celebrity currently goes by – has 31.5 million followers.

Since his account was reinstated, he has yet to post on the platform. His account now appears with a golden verification tick, indicating that it is recognised by X as an official business account.

In December, Twitter suspended the singer's account citing a breach of the platform's terms of use for inciting violence.

It came shortly after a series of erratic posts by Ye, including one showing the Nazi swastika symbol and a Jewish star. This followed the rapper's appearance on the show of right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in which West said he had an admiration for Adolf Hitler.

After posting anti-Semitic content, Ye lost several business opportunities.

Adidas cancelled a near decade-long partnership with him, no longer producing his Yeezy-branded trainers. Gap and Balenciaga also cut ties with the signer.

At the time of the suspension, Twitter's billionaire owner Musk said he had tried to offer the singer a platform.

“I tried my best. Despite that, he again violated our rule against incitement to violence,” tweeted Musk in December.

“Account will be suspended.”

It's not clear what caused the U-turn on West's suspension on Saturday, but Twitter has undergone a huge transformation of late.

On Monday, the social media platform was rebranded as X, complete with new logo no longer featuring the famous blue bird.

On Friday, Musk said monthly users of the platform had reached a “new high”.