Donald Trump appears to be back on Twitter after an online poll voted for him to return.
The new owner of the platform, Elon Musk, had announced on Saturday evening that the former president would be reinstated after the vote, almost two years after he was removed following the January 6 United States Capitol riots.
Upon hearing the news, the former US president initially said he had no interest in rejoining, but a verified account with a blue checkmark popped up later Saturday that went by the name “@RealDonald Trump, 45th President of the United States of America” and the words “He’s Back” was trending in the United States.
The Twitter poll, accompanied by the words “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” – a Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God” – had asked users to vote on whether Mr. Trump should be allowed to return, and the upshot was that it should have.
More than 15 million votes were cast, but the former president told a rally on Saturday night, “I don’t see any reason for him (to come back).”
He said he would stick with his new social media platform, Truth Social.
Mr. Trump has been permanently suspended since Chirping in January 2021 after the attack by his supporters on the United States Capitol which left several people dead.
Twitter said the decision, following the riot, was “due to the risk of further incitement to violence”.
Elon Musk oversaw massive changes to Twitter in just his first few weeks as owner
However, mr Moss earlier this year he called the ban a “mistake” and “morally wrong”.
The reinstatement poll was close: yes was 51.8%, no 48.2%.
Many on the right of the political spectrum have long argued that Twitter and other social media sites are biased against their views and ready to “deplatform” them.
After its release, Mr Trump he founded Truth Social, his own social media platform, which was almost a carbon copy of Twitter.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Twitter employees are estimated to have made the decision to leave the company following Musk’s announcement that staffers either accept longer, more intense work patterns or quit.
Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California
The exodus adds to the rapid change and chaos that marked Musk’s first three weeks as owner of Twitter, during which the company’s headcount had already been more than halved by layoffs and other departures to about 3,700.
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With so much Twitter manpower now gone, there is speculation that the site will crash during the soccer World Cup, one of the site’s busiest traffic events.
Many high-profile celebrities have tweeted goodbyes on the platform “just in case.”
To add to Mr. Musk’s business woes, Tesla is recalling more than 300,000 vehicles in the United States because a software glitch can cause the rear lights to go out intermittently, increasing the risk of a collision.
