Donald Trump declared on Saturday that he had no interest in returning to Twitter, despite a survey conducted by the site's new owner, Elon Musk, showing that a narrow majority of users wanted to reinstate the former American president after he was banned for inciting violence.
The majority of the almost 15 million Twitter users who took part in the survey—roughly 51.8%—favoured re-admission.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk said in a tweet.
Before Trump’s account was suspended on January 8, 2021, he had over 88 million followers. By Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, he had approximately 100,000 new followers. On Saturday night, some users complained that they could not follow the account after it had been restored.
Earlier in the day, Trump had given a less than enthusiastic impression.
When a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership gathering asked if he expected to return to Twitter, the former president answered in a video message, “I don’t see any reason for it.”
He declared his loyalty to Truth Social, an app created by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) firm, despite the success of Twitter, claiming that Truth Social had superior user engagement.
When asked for comment, Twitter did not provide any.
Trump, who on Tuesday officially began his campaign to win back the White House in 2024, has been effusive in his support of Musk and his claims that he has always admired him. Trump added that Twitter’s problems with bots and false accounts were “amazing.”
Since Musk announced in May that he intended to lift the ban on Trump, many of the company’s advertisers have been keeping a close eye on Trump’s potential return to the platform out of concern for the worse.
Since then, the billionaire has tried to reassure users and advertisers by saying that the choice to reinstate accounts would be carefully considered by a content monitoring panel of people with “widely different perspectives.”
In addition, he stated that unless a “clear process for doing so” were established, Twitter would not unban any users.
Musk had previously banned comedian Kathy Griffin for violating his new rule against impersonation by changing her profile name to “Elon Musk” without specifying that it was a parody account; however, Musk reinstated Griffin this week. We still need to learn more about the moderation council or the procedures involved.
Trump’s absence may calm major advertisers’ fears about Twitter’s future after Musk’s recent changes.
He slashed the company’s trust and safety team, which was charged with policing the platform for harmful or false information, by half.
As a result of these measures and Musk’s tweets, big corporations have pulled their advertising from the site while they evaluate its handling of hate speech.
Just days after a significant exodus of engineers, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources, that Twitter may lay off more workers in its sales and partnership units.
Truth Social, which debuted in February on the Apple App Store and in October on the Google Play Store, would be called into doubt if Trump returned to Twitter. Around 4.57 million people have followed Trump on Truth Social.
Since Trump began routinely tweeting on the app in May, it has been his primary channel of direct engagement with his followers. In the face of legal inquiry from the state, congressional, and federal investigators, he has utilized Truth Social to promote allies, disparage opponents, and defend his reputation.
However, the terms of his relationship with the corporation allow Trump to participate substantially on other platforms. According to a May SEC filing, Trump must offer Truth Social an exclusive for six hours on any post. Still, he is free to share “political messaging, political fundraising, or get-out-the-vote efforts” on any site at any time.