Former President Donald Trump has been able to recover his Twitter account after an absence of nearly two years, the social media company’s new owner Elon Musk announced Saturday evening, though it’s unclear whether he will return to the former president’s profile. The Twitter account would be restored minutes later the ban was lifted and its blue check mark was restored.
The news comes days after Trump announced his presidential bid in 2024. He was banned from Twitter for inciting violence during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. The social media platform has been welcomed back since its turbulent acquisition of Facebook which has been marked by severe cuts to both its workforce and revenue as many companies turn off advertising.
Individuals have spoken Musk said on Twitter Saturday night. Trump will be reinstated Trump announced Tuesday he is running for president again He said he wouldn’t return to Twitter even if invited but the former president is trying to echo that sentiment with his Truth Social app Not found, whose reach is very limited.
On Truth Social Trump has 4.57 million followers which is a fraction of his more than 88 million on Twitter. Before lifting the ban, Musk created an informal poll on his personal Twitter account on Friday asking users whether he should “reinstate former President Trump.” Over 15. million users though it was unclear how many poll participants were verified users or bots.
After the vote, Musk announced that Trump’s Twitter account would be restored to Vox Populi Vox Dei Musc, a Latin phrase meaning the voice of the people is the voice of God. There were ups and downs, Musk said Twitter engineers are working to restore all of Trump’s followers.
Trump issued a statement on Saturday with positivity regarding the possibility of voting and the possibility of restoration, vote now, but don’t worry, we are not going anywhere trump said that Truth is Social is Special.
He elaborated in a virtual appearance at a Republican Jewish coalition leadership meeting that while he’s always liked Musk and was happy he bought Twitter, he sees no reason to return to the platform.
He has a lot of problems with Twitter. Trump said you see what’s going on it might make it that might not but the problems are incredible The political right accuses Facebook of de-platforming Trump and other figures. Outrage broke out among conservatives and other major social media platforms over the censorship and liberal biases.
Since Musk acquired the company last month, he has reinstated other prominent figures and companies who follow Musk on Twitter, including right-wing Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson, far-right satirical website The Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin. The Capitol riot over Parlor was suspended when Trump made his debut speech before talks turned into a civil war.
While his purchase of the widely used social media app was celebrated by Republicans and far-right Musk resisted calls for Trump to immediately reinstate him, Jake Denton, fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Tech Policy Center, said that They should never be restricted by research. Trump’s comeback today objectively takes Twitter down a new path. That the new Elon Musk is the ideal person to rein in Twitter is one means by which Elon can signal that he is serious about restructuring Twitter.
Trump’s comeback raises risks for Twitter and democracy, Brian Ott, a communications professor at Missouri State University, told USA TODAY that Trump’s persistent false claims that the 2020 election was stolen have led him to believe his false, falsehoods. Provided a public platform for widely disseminated information and hate stating that their return to these forums would certainly raise the temperature of our politics and greatly increase the potential for political violence.
Trump, who often spreads misinformation online, has been allowed to rejoin Twitter in what is a vulnerable moment for the company and potentially American politics. Musk has already laid off thousands of employees and recently furloughed content moderation contractors who help stop the spread of hate speech and misinformation.
More employees resigned this week after Musk told employees they needed to be extremely hardcore to make Twitter 2.0 a success, and working long hours in high-intensity environments would be part of the push. On Friday, Musk tweeted that Twitter’s new policy is freedom of expression but not freedom of access.