Elon Musk reinstates Trump’s Twitter account
Elon Musk has said that former US President Donald Trump would be allowed back on Twitter after the social media platform's new owner ran a poll in which a narrow majority of 15 million voters supported the move.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk said in a tweet on Saturday, quoting the Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
Trump's once-blocked Twitter account reappeared on the platform minutes after company owner Musk announced he was lifting the 22-month suspension on the former president over alleged incitement of violence.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter nearly two years ago, following the January 6, 2021 protest march when Trump supporters occupied the US Capitol while lawmakers were in the process of reviewing the certification of state electors which indicated Joe Biden's victory. Some Trump supporters had hoped that this process could have resulted in some of the electors being disqualified, thus overturning the outcome of the presidential election.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said at the time.
Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement.
Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter.
"I don't see any reason for it," the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting.
The former president said he would stick with his new platform Truth Social, the app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup, which he said had better user engagement than Twitter and was doing "phenomenally well".
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said, "Trump should have never been banned in the first place."
"Interesting it took a poll to decide to reinstate him. My personal account is still permanently banned for 'covid misinformation.' What does it take to reinstate my account? Freedom of speech matters," she added.
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