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On the heels of a poll, Elon Musk recently announced the reinstatement of the Twitter account belonging to Donald Trump.
Twitter has reinstated the account of former US President Donald Trump. The move comes a few weeks after the acquisition of the social media giant by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. The outspoken Tesla CEO announced Trump’s reinstatement on Saturday night after conducting a Twitter poll on Friday that drew over 15 million votes. The poll’s results revealed that 52% of voters supported Trump’s restoration, while 48% opposed it. “The people have spoken; Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted later in the day.
Following Musk’s announcement, Trump’s account became visible, but the ex-US President is yet to post a tweet. This lack of interest may not surprise anyone because he previously expressed apathy toward returning to the microblogging platform. When recently asked about his potential reinstatement to Twitter, Donald Trump said, “I don’t see any reason for it”. When Twitter permanently suspended his account almost two years ago for inflammatory comments, the polarizing ex-president shifted attention to his Truth Social platform.
Donald Trump Reinstated Twitter Account Sees Followership Swell in Short Order
Since Trump’s Twitter reinstatement, more than 1 million other accounts followed his restored account in less than three hours. However, a majority of these followers reportedly encountered a glitch while attempting to do so. According to reports, these users had to re-follow several times. However, a post in Twitter’s Help Center likely addresses this issue, explaining that restored accounts may only partially retain some of their followership. As the post reads:
“Some people’s following/followers or Tweet counts do not immediately display their previous numbers upon reactivation. Don’t worry; these will be fully restored within 24 hours of reactivation.”
Nonetheless, Trump’s restored account currently boasts more than 87 million followers. Furthermore, the account has also scooped up following from noteworthy personalities in the blockchain space. According to BigCryptoAlert, these include Block CEO and former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, as well as Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss. In addition, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is also reportedly following Trump since the account reinstatement. However, it is not clear if the re-follows were manually initiated or the result of automation.
Trump previously announced a bid to run for the White House in 2024. Early last year, the brash businessman saw his Twitter account pulled down for its role in inciting an insurrection against the US Capitol. Before that event, several of Trump’s previous tweets had repeatedly been flagged for violating the platform’s policies. Since his initial Twitter ousting, the former US President has been communicating with his supporters via his alt-tech Truth Social social media channel. The platform, founded in October 2021 and launched in February 2022, is the brainchild of Trump Media & Technology Group. According to Trump, Truth Social is doing “phenomenally well.”
Twitter Reinstatement of Other Banned Accounts
Before Trump’s reinstatement, Musk also indicated a willingness to restore other banned users on the platform. However, the Tesla CEO also emphasized that this will occur only after a “clear process for doing so.”
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