Los Angeles | Elon Musk says he will reinstate Donald Trump’s Twitter account, reversing a ban that has kept the former president off the social media site since a pro-Trump mob attacked the US Capitol as Congress prepared to certify the election victory of Joe Biden.
Musk made the announcement in the evening after conducting a poll asking Twitter users to click “yes” or “no” on whether Trump’s account should be restored. “Yes” won, with 51.2 percent.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, using a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people, the voice of God.”
Elon Musk will let Donald Trump back on Twitter. Bloomberg, AP
It’s unclear whether Trump would actually return to Twitter. An irrepressible tweeter before he was banned, Trump has said in the past that he would not rejoin Twitter even if his account was reinstated. He has been relying on his own, much smaller social media site, Truth Social, which he launched after being banned from Twitter.
And on Saturday, during a video address to a gathering of a Republican Jewish group in Las Vegas, Trump said he was aware of Musk’s poll but saw “a lot of trouble on Twitter,” according to Bloomberg.
“I feel like we’re getting a big vote to go back to Twitter as well. I don’t see it because I don’t see a reason to,” Trump said, as quoted by Bloomberg. “He might do it, he might not,” he added, apparently referring to Twitter’s recent internal turmoil.
The prospect of restoring Trump’s presence on the platform follows Musk’s purchase last month of Twitter, an acquisition that has sparked widespread concern that the billionaire owner is allowing purveyors of lies and misinformation to thrive on the site. Musk has often expressed his belief that Twitter had become too restrictive of free speech.
His efforts to remodel the site have been swift and chaotic. Musk has laid off many of the company’s 7,500 full-time workers and an untold number of contractors who are responsible for content moderation and other crucial responsibilities. His demand that the remaining employees commit to working “extremely hard” led to a wave of resignations, including hundreds of software engineers.
Users have reported seeing an increase in spam and scams in their channels and direct messages, among other errors, in the wake of mass layoffs and the exodus of workers. Some programmers who were fired or resigned this week warned that Twitter could soon become so torn that it could fail.
Musk’s online poll, which ran for 24 hours before ending on Saturday evening US time, concluded with 51.2% of the more than 15 million votes in favor of restoring the Twitter account of trump It comes four days after Trump announced his 2024 presidential bid.
Trump lost access to Twitter two days after his supporters stormed the Capitol, shortly after the former president had urged them to “fight like hell.” Twitter suspended his account after Trump wrote a pair of tweets that the company said cast further doubt on the legitimacy of the presidential election and posed risks to Biden’s inauguration.
After the January 6 attack, Trump was also banned from Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, and Snapchat. His ability to post videos to his YouTube channel was also suspended. Facebook is ready to reconsider the suspension of Trump’s account in January.
Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media has posed a significant challenge to major social media platforms trying to balance the public’s interest in hearing from public officials with concerns about misinformation, bigotry, harassment and incitement to violence.
But in a speech at an auto conference in May, Musk claimed Trump’s Twitter ban was a “morally bad decision” and “extremely absurd.”