TRUMP SNUBS TWITTER AFTER ACCOUNT REACTIVATION
Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former US president, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence.
In a poll organized by new Twitter owner Elon Musk, more than 15 million users voted with 51.8 percent saying they were in favor of reinstating Trump’s account.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted.
Trump’s Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers before he was banned on Jan. 8, 2021, began accumulating followers and had nearly 100,000 followers by 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Some users initially reported being unable to follow the reinstated account on Saturday evening.
Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day.
“I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked by a panel of whether he planned to return to Twitter.
He 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.”
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Trump, who on Tuesday launched a bid to regain the White House in 2024, praised Musk and said he had always liked him. But Trump also said Twitter suffered from bots, fake accounts and that the problems it faced were “incredible.”
Musk first said in May he planned to reverse the ban on Trump, and the timing of any return by Trump was closely watched—and feared—by many of Twitter’s advertisers.
The billionaire has since sought to reassure users and advertisers that such a decision would be made with consideration by a content moderation council composed of people with “widely diverse viewpoints” and no account reinstatements would happen before the council convened.
A no-show by Trump could reduce concerns among major advertisers, who are already rattled by Musk’s drastic reshaping of Twitter.
If Trump returned to Twitter, the move would raise questions about his commitment to Truth Social, which launched on Apple’s App Store in February and Google’s Play Store in October. Trump has some 4.57 million followers on Truth Social.
Truth Social has been Trump’s main source of direct communication with his followers since he began posting on the app regularly in May.