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| Trump’s Twitter account before being blocked |
Musk made the announcement Saturday night. Earlier, he held a poll asking Twitter users to click “yes” or “no” on whether they should reinstate Trump’s account. The affirmative vote won with 51.8% of the vote.
“The people have spoken out. Trump’s account will be restored. Musk tweeted in Latin, “The voice of the people, the voice of God.” （Vox Populi, Vox Dei）”
Soon after, Trump’s account reappeared on Twitter’s platform, with more than 59,000 of his previous tweets. But his followers were gone, at least at first.
It’s unclear if Trump will return to using Twitter. Before his ban, Trump was an uncontrollable Twitter user who had said in the past that he would not rejoin even if his account was restored. He has been using his much smaller social media site, Truth social, which he created after he was blocked by Twitter.
On Saturday, Trump said in a video speech at a meeting of Republican Jewish groups in Las Vegas that he was aware of Musk‘s polls, but he felt “there are a lot of problems with Twitter,” according to Bloomberg.
“I heard that we also got a lot of votes on Twitter. I don’t think so, because I don’t see any reason to do that. Bloomberg quoted Trump as saying. It may succeed or fail,” he added, apparently referring to Twitter’s recent internal turmoil.
The prospect of reviving Trump’s Twitter account comes after Elon Musk acquired Twitter last month, an acquisition that sparked widespread concerns that the billionaire boss would allow the spread of lies and misinformation to run wild on the site. Musk has often said he thinks Twitter is too restrictive for free speech.
Musk’s online poll lasted 24 hours until it ended Saturday night, with 51.8 percent of more than 15 million votes in favor of reinstating Trump’s Twitter account. Just four days ago, Trump announced that he would run for president in 2024.
(This article is based on an Associated Press report.)
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