Donald Trump Has Been Reinstated to Twitter by Elon Musk, but Will He Come Back?
Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, has been making big moves on the social media platform. From letting go of a huge chunk of the workforce to reinstating formerly banned accounts like the satirical news site Babylon Bee, Musk has been letting his presence be felt.
But Musk put up a poll asking users if they wanted him to unban former president Donald Trump, and the results spoke volumes.
Citing what he called "vox populi" (Latin for "voice of the people"), Musk announced that Trump's account would be reinstated, lifting a ban that had been in place since the beginning of 2021.
Trump was banned from the social media platform after the riot at the nation's capital on January 6, 2021. The former president has routinely been blamed as at least partially responsible for what many have called an attempted insurrection by supporters who believed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen.
Trump's last tweet on the social media platform came on January 8, two days after the riot, when he announced he would not be attending the inauguration of his successor, Joe Biden.
At the time of his banning, Twitter's management put out a statement explaining their decision to ban Trump.
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.
Trump had previously stated that he would not be returning to Twitter if Musk were to reinstate his account, choosing instead to remain on his Truth Social account.
“No, I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen.
“I will be on Truth Social within the week. Its on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He’s an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter,” he said.
Truth Social is a Trump-backed competing social media platform that the former president has been using to put out his press releases and statements.