The former US president, Donal Trump, who had been banned from Twitter for inciting violence, has got his account back up after a narrow victory in an Elon Musk-organized Twitter poll in favor of his reinstatement.
In the poll, slightly more than 15 million votes were cast, with 51.8% in favor of reinstatement. Although, Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day.
When asked by a panel at the annual leadership gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition whether he intended to return to Twitter, the former president responded via video, “I don’t see any need for it.”
He told that he would continue with his new platform Truth Social, an app created by his business Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which he stated was performing “phenomenally well” and had higher user interaction than Twitter.
Trump, who on Tuesday announced his intention to run again for president in 2024, lauded Musk and declared that he had always been a fan. Trump added that Twitter’s issues were “extraordinary” and that it was plagued by bots and false accounts.
Musk initially stated in May that he intended to lift the ban on Trump, and many of Twitter’s advertisers were anxiously awaiting the timing of any comeback by the president.
Since then, Musk has made an effort to reassure users and sponsors that such a choice would be carefully considered by a content moderation committee made up of individuals with “widely diverse opinions” and that no account reinstatements would take place before the council met.
He said that unless there was a “clear method for doing so,” Twitter would not allow any banned users to reapply.
Musk, though, reinstated comedian Kathy Griffin last week after she had been suspended for violating his new policy against impersonation by changing her profile name to “Elon Musk” without making it clear that it was a parody account. There is no fresh information on the moderation council or the process.
What are your thoughts on Twitter lifting Donald Trump’s ban?