Twitter CEO Elon Musk reinstated former President Donald Trump‘s Twitter account after posting a poll on the controversial move.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted on Saturday.
Musk had posted a poll on Friday night that read “Reinstate President Trump.” The tweet garnered 15 million votes with 51.8% in favor and 48.2% opposed.
Musk, who recently took over Twitter, had hinted at reinstating Trump several times. At a conference in May, he said “I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump; I think that was a mistake.”
On Friday, Musk reinstated the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, author Jordan Peterson, and satire account Babylon Bee, saying that the “Trump decision has not yet been made.”
Musk had previously said Twitter would be forming a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.”
“No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes,” he tweeted on Oct. 28.”There is no evidence from Musk that a moderation council was a part of the decisions to reinstate Trump and other controversial accounts.
Trump announced his 2024 presidential candidacy on Tuesday, causing speculation as to whether or not he will use his newly reinstated Twitter account to bolster campaign efforts. Trump started his own social media site, Truth Social, in October 2021.
The day that Elon Musk acquired Twitter, Trump posted on Truth Social praising the new CEO. “Very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands.” He added: “I LOVE TRUTH!”
However, Trump has said “I don’t see any reason for it,” when asked if he would rejoin Twitter following his account reactivation on Saturday. In Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting, he said, Twitter has “a lot of problems. You see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it.”
According to a May SEC filing, Trump is contractually obligated to give Truth Social a six-hour exclusive on any post but is free to post “political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the vote efforts,” on any site at any time.
Trump was previously banned from Twitter following the Capitol Riot on Jan. 6.
Twitter said he violated the company’s policy against the glorification of violence after attempting to overturn the 2020 election results.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said at the time. “In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”
His accounts were indefinitely banned from other social media sites around the same time including YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and Instagram.
The Jan. 6 committee is still investigating Trump’s involvement in the insurrection. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., a member of the House select committee, commented on Trump’s reinstatement in a tweet Saturday.
“With Trump back on Twitter, it’s a good time to watch this Jan 6 hearing,” Cheney wrote, linking to a Jan.6 committee website. “It covers each of Trump’s tweets that day, including those that have been deleted, and features multiple Trump WH staff describing his inexcusable conduct during the violence.”
