After Musk Reveals That The Former President's Account has been Activated, Trump Snubs Twitter

Donald Trump, the former U.S. president, makes the announcement on November 15, 2022 during a gathering at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, that he will run for president of the United States once more in the 2024 election.

In a poll run by the new owner Elon Musk, Donald Trump declared on Saturday that he had no interest in returning to Twitter, despite a narrow majority of voters supporting his reinstatement after being banned for inciting violence.

51.8% of the little more than 15 million Twitter users who participated in the poll chose to support reinstatement.

"The people have had their say." Trump will be re-elected, tweeted Musk.

Before he was suspended on January 8, 2021, Trump had more than 88 million followers on Twitter. On Saturday at 10 p.m. ET, he had almost 100,000 followers.

On Saturday night, some users first reported being unable to follow the restored account. Trump had earlier in the day seemed less than enthusiastic. When asked by a panel at the annual leadership gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition whether he intended to return to Twitter, the former president responded via video, "I don't see any need for it."

He declared he would continue with his new platform Truth Social, an app created by his business Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which he stated was performing "phenomenally well" and had higher user interaction than Twitter. An inquiry for comment from Twitter received no response.

Trump, who on Tuesday announced his intention to run again for president in 2024, lauded Musk and declared that he had always been a fan. Trump added that Twitter's issues were "extraordinary" and that it was plagued by bots and false accounts.

Many of Twitter's advertisers were anxiously awaiting any return by Trump when Musk first declared in May that he intended to lift the ban.

Since then, the billionaire has worked to reassure customers and sponsors that such a choice would be carefully considered by a content moderation committee made up of individuals with "widely different opinions" and that no account reinstatements would take place before the council meeting.

Additionally, he stated that unless there was a "clear method for doing so," Twitter would not restore any banned users. Musk, though, reinstated comedian Kathy Griffin last week after she had been suspended for violating his new policy against impersonation by changing her profile name to "Elon Musk" without making it clear that it was a parody account. There is no fresh information on the moderation council or the process.

No cause To Return

Trump's absence might allay the worries of significant advertisers, who are already alarmed by Musk's radical redesign of Twitter. He has drastically reduced the trust and safety team, which is in charge of stopping the spread of hazardous content and misinformation, and he has cut the personnel in half.

Major firms have suspended their advertising on the website while they monitor how the platform handles hate speech as a result of these steps and Musk's tweets.

Only days after an engineering-related mass resignation, Bloomberg reported on Saturday that Twitter may be forced to lay off further staff members in its sales and partnership units.

If Trump joined Twitter again, it would cast doubt on his dedication to Truth Social, which debuted on Google Play in October and the Apple App Store in February.

On Truth Social, Trump has 4.57 million followers. Since he started posting often on the app in May, Trump's primary method of direct connection with his supporters has been Truth Social. In the face of legal investigation from the state, congressional, and federal investigators, he has used Truth Social to support his allies, lambast adversaries, and defend his reputation. However, his relationship with the corporation gives Trump the opportunity to actively participate on other platforms.

According to a May SEC filing, Trump is required to grant Truth Social a six-hour exclusive on each post but is free to post "political message, political fundraising, or get-out-the-vote operations" on any website, at any time.