After being suspended for more than a year and a half, Donald Trump's Twitter account has been reinstated by Elon Musk. Shortly after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, Musk said the platform would create a new content moderation council. Since then, the internet has been full of rumors and speculations about the banned Twitter accounts returning to the site.
However, on Nov. 2, 2022, Musk said in a tweet that de-platformed users, who violated Twitter's old rules, would not return to the platform until there was a clear process for doing so. It has been two weeks, and Twitter has seen a lot of changes. Reports suggest that Twitter is functioning with less than half of its workforce, as Musk fired most employees to cut costs, and most of the remaining employees voluntarily left the company.
On Nov. 19, 2022, Elon Musk conducted a poll through his Twitter account, asking the internet whether former president Trump's Twitter account should be reinstated. In the same thread, the new Twitter boss also wrote, "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," a Latin phrase that means that the voice of the people is the voice of God, implying that the microblogging platform will bring back Trump's account if the internet, or the people, vote in favor. A couple of hours later, Musk tweeted again, saying that the poll was getting over one million votes every hour. Over 15 million people responded to the Twitter poll. However, it was only by a slight margin that the poll inclined toward bringing back Trump on Twitter.
Donald Trump's Twitter Account Has Been Restored In A Dramatic Manner
When the poll ended, 51.8 percent of the respondents, i.e., about 7.8 million people, voted to bring Trump back. Whereas 48.2 percent of the participants, i.e., about 7.2 million people, had voted against the notion. Saturday night, Musk announced that Trump's account would be reinstated. Further, Musk has also informed that over 134 million people saw the poll. While writing this report, Trump's Twitter account, with over 41 million followers, is back online. However, the former president might not start using his account anytime soon, as he said earlier, "I don't see any reason for it."
To recall, Trump was banned from Twitter in 2021 due to the risk of "incitement of violence," as mentioned in a blog published by Twitter. This is the fourth reinstatement by Twitter after the new content moderation policy came into place on Nov. 19, 2022, which focuses on "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach." Twitter accounts of Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson and Babylon Bee have also been restored. However, Musk nor Twitter did not conduct a poll to activate these accounts. Users worldwide can expect other suspended accounts to also show up in the coming days.
Source: Elon Musk/Twitter, Twitter