Elon Musk reinstates Trump’s Twitter account after public poll

Over the weekend, Musk started a Twitter poll asking followers to vote on bringing back Trump's account.

Elon Musk reinstates Trump’s Twitter account after public poll
Elon Musk photo and Twitter logo are seen through magnifier in this illustration taken November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

After Elon Musk bought the world's most influential social media platform Twitter for US$44 billion, he immediately started to reshape it. For example, he fired top execs to change up the leadership, laid off a huge chunk of the staff and said he wanted to ensure "free speech" on the social network. This also includes potentially unbanning some high-profile users that had been kicked off, such as former US President Donald Trump. Twitter banned Trump permanently after his supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington in 2021, saying the ban was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” So, in February, Trump launched his own platform, Truth Social, and said he wouldn't return to Twitter even if it unbanned him.

Over the weekend, Musk started a Twitter poll asking followers to vote on bringing back Trump's account. He also tweeted, "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," meaning "the voice of the people is the voice of God." The poll ended with over 15 million votes and over 50% voting to bring Trump back. With the former president officially making another run for the White House in 2024, a comeback on Twitter could allow him to turbocharge his message. But, Trump said on Saturday that he'd stick to his own platform instead of coming back to Twitter because he sees "a lot of problems at Twitter."

Key comments:

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted.

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” said Elon in a tweet. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of Internet.”

“I hear we’re getting a big vote to also go back on Twitter. I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it,” said US former President Donald Trump. “It may make it, it may not make it.”

“Any advertiser still funding Twitter should immediately pause all advertising,” said Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in a statement.