Elon Musk has announced that former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account will be reinstated, after a poll of Twitter users narrowly voted by a margin of 52% to 48% to reinstate him.
The poll, which lasted for 24 hours, gathered over 15 million votes. Musk has earlier announced he was reinstating accounts belonging to psychology professor Jordan Peterson and satirical website the Babylon Bee.
The reinstatement comes at an opportune time for the former President, given he just formally announced the beginning of a new campaign for President in the 2024 election. Through the use of Twitter, he is optimally positioned to maximize the spread of any message.
Musk’s decision caps a chaotic week at the social media platform, following massive layoffs and the departure of a raft of top compliance executives. After Musk demanded employees sign a declaration that they would work long hours at high intensity to produce a new hardcore “Twitter 2.0,” or chose a departure from the company with severance, many chose to not sign the document.
Musk subsequently ordered all badge access to Twitter facilities halted, locking everyone out of Twitter buildings over the weekend, amid a reported fear of sabotage. Meanwhile, analysts posited whether Twitter would still have the engineering staff to remain operational during the flood of users that were expected with the start of the World Cup. Separately, the FTC made noises about Twitter possibly violating a consent order it had negotiated with the company prior to Musk’s taking the reins, which could lead to fines in the billions of dollars.
In 2021, President Trump was banned from Twitter, “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” following violent protests at the US Capitol.
For his part, Trump has indicted he will not return immediately, if ever, since he sees, “a lot of problems at Twitter.” Presently he posts social media commentary on his own platform, Truth Social.
At the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas, Trump said via video link, “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. It may make it, it may not make it.”
Some analysts think if Trump returns, he might hurt Twitter’s bottom line by alienating advertisers with controversial tweets. Musk has previously sought to allay advertiser fears, noting he did not wish for Twitter to become a, “free-for-all hellscape.”
In a subsequent post, Musk noted they would not allow ads to be placed on controversial tweets, nor would they help them spread. Critics on the platform said he was going back on his promises of free speech on the platform, and should merely let people receive tweets from those they follow, and retweet freely to those who follow them.
