Ex-president may get his mouthpiece back as Musk puts his Twitter return to vote

TWITTER users were poised to back Donald Trump’s reinstatement to the platform after Elon Musk staged an online poll on whether to lift a ban on the former US president’s account.

The poll had received more than 14million votes last night. Roughly 52 per cent approved of plans to reinstate Mr Trump, while 48 per cent objected.

Mr Musk said more than one million people an hour were voting, with the poll set to run until the early hours of this morning.

Posing the question, Mr Musk added: “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” using the Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God”, a phrase long associated with advocates of direct democracy. He is a self-described “free speech absolutist”.

Mr Trump, who intends to run again for the presidency in 2024, was thrown off Twitter by its founder Jack Dorsey in 2021 after being accused of using it to incite a mob to storm the US Capitol. Four people died in the incident.

After his @realDonaldTrump handle was banned, Mr Trump tweeted from the White House’s account: “We will not be silenced! Twitter is not about free speech. They are all about promoting a radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely.”

Twitter deleted the tweets, citing rules to prevent banned users sidestepping suspensions by using different accounts. Mr Trump subsequently signed an exclusivity deal with Truth Social, a Right-wing US social media site. The deal requires him to share all his social media activity on Truth Social, where posts are called “truths”, before sharing them on any other website.

Twitter’s new owner said in May he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Mr Trump. However, Mr Musk’s poll appears to be at odds with a public pledge made three weeks ago to establish a content moderation council that would oversee any big decisions affecting the website.

“No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before the council convenes,” he tweeted in late October.

There has been no announcement about the council since then. It is not clear whether Mr Musk will follow through with the result of the poll. He said on Friday that a decision on Mr Trump’s account was yet to be made.