New Delhi: Former President of the United States Donald Trump was back on Twitter after its new owner Elon Musk conducted a poll on Saturday which saw close to 51.8% of the 15 billion participants voting for him to be back on the micro-blogging platform.
Trump was banned from Twitter for nearly 22 months after his role in the January 6 Capitol Hill attack where violent mobs stormed in to overturn election results last year. Since Musk took over Twitter, there were conversations about how he could restore the former President’s account.
In a tweet late on Saturday, Elon Musk said “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.” (‘Vox Populi, Vox Dei’, a Latin phrase, means the voice of the people is the voice of God)
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Trump on Twitter
Donald Trump who announced his intentions for a 2024 run to be President again, had a contentious tenure on Twitter where his tweets were mired with election-related misinformation.
Twitter had earlier flagged his tweets that were either incorrect or were deemed incendiary in nature.
This comes after Trump started his own social media network Truth social where he has a significant financial stake.
Earlier, while speaking about Elon Musk who bought Twitter for 44 billion dollars, he said that he likes Musk but he does not intend to be back on Twitter during a Fox News interview.
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‘Free Speech Absolutist’
This comes during a tumultuous time for the micro-blogging website wherein employees were either laid-off or they voluntarily quit. Close to 7500 employees were affected during this massive rejig.
Describing himself as a free-speech absolutist, Musk has brought in some controversial changes that have invited criticism. Apart from issues on content moderation that included removing hateful content on the platform, Musk also introduced $8 for a blue tick.
This also discouraged several major brands that were key to Twitter’s advertising. An exodus of sorts took place for advertisers and Twitter relied heavily on advertisers for revenue.
(Edited by Anumeha)
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