Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao briefly had his social media profile restricted on X after stepping down from his executive position.
For a short amount of time on Nov. 23, attempts to access Zhao’s X profile returned a standard restricted account message, which read:
“Caution: This account is temporarily restricted. You’re seeing this warning because they may have potentially violated the X Rules. Do you still want to view it?”
It does not appear that X ever fully blocked access to Zhao’s profile, and as of 10:00 p.m. UTC on Nov. 23, his account was fully public once again.
Zhao said that he believed that his account was restricted because he changed his profile name. Archived versions of Zhao’s profile suggest that he changed the profile name from “CZ Binance” to “CZ BNB,” reflecting his resignation as Binance CEO.
That change also reflects Zhao’s continued investment in the BNB token. His profile bio now describes him as the co-founder and former CEO of Binance, as well as a “holder of BNB and BTC.” Despite Zhao’s investment in BNB, he has downplayed his involvement in BNB, writing that the token “doesn’t need a CEO.”
Zhao additionally addressed X owner Elon Musk, stating that X’s “bot detection [algorithm] needs some work” as the incident shows that anti-bot measures at times target humans instead of bots. Incidentally, Binance and Zhao contributed $500 million to Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022 before Zhao briefly became a victim of the social media platform’s controversial policies this week.
Zhao faces criminal charges, sentencing
Binance reached multi-billion dollar settlements with U.S. agencies and admitted to criminal allegations starting on Nov. 21, ending ongoing investigations.
Alongside those corporate charges, Zhao personally pleaded guilty and is now on bail after a $175 million bond payment; prosecutors now aim to stop him from leaving the U.S. before he is sentenced in February 2024. Zhao also stepped down from his position at Binance following those charges, as reported previously.
Zhao’s involvement with Binance will also be restricted during the firm’s three-year monitorship, according to The New York Times. However, authorities have not described any specific terms limiting his public activities or social media presence.
