Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk , launched the query just hours after reinstating other suspended user accounts in the name of free speech.
Elon Musk , the new head of Twitter, restored this Saturday the account of former United States President Donald Trump , banned from the social network after the assault on the Washington Capitol in January 2021.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” the businessman tweeted in his own account after the results of a survey launched among his followers.
More than fifteen million responded and 51.8% voted “yes” to the return of the Republican politician to the platform.
A few minutes after his message, Trump’s account was visible again. The last tweet dates from January 8, 2021.
The number of followers, which seems to have started from scratch, was already around two million around 02:20 GMT.
In launching the poll on Friday night, Musk had hinted that the result could influence a decision on whether or not the former US president would return to the social network, as he had accompanied it with the message “Vox Populi, Vox Dei ” (Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God”).
The new owner of Twitter launched the query a few hours after reinstating, in the name of freedom of expression, other suspended user accounts.
Trump stays at Truth Social
Twitter had suspended Trump indefinitely on January 8, 2021, due to the “risk of further incitement to violence”, two days after his supporters invaded the US Capitol.
Musk had already mentioned in May a possible return of the former Republican president, considering that this sanction constituted “a morally bad and unreasonable decision in the extreme.”
While many critics fear that the content is no longer moderated enough on the social network, the billionaire has been waiting to speak on the subject.
A decision along these lines would cause a stir in much of American society and the political world, especially now that Donald Trump has once again entered the race for the White House by 2024.
While the Republican candidate rejoices that with Musk Twitter he is “in good hands”, in recent days he has nevertheless said that he will remain on his social network, Truth Social , despite the fact that this platform offers him a much smaller audience in compared to Twitter, where he had more than 88 million followers.
During the meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon, Trump said he welcomed Musk’s poll and was a fan of it, but appeared to reject any return to Twitter.
“He put up a poll and it was very overwhelming…but I have something called Truth Social.” On whether he would return to Twitter, he said: “I’m not considering it because I don’t see any reason for it.”
This is not the first time Musk has asked his followers for their opinion. For example, he asked them in late 2021 whether he should sell Tesla stock and, more recently, whether Twitter advertisers should “support free speech” or “political correctness.”
(With information from AFP)