Twitter owner, Elon Musk, has said former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account has been reinstated.
This was after millions voted in Trump’s favour during a Twitter poll conducted by Musk himself on his official handle.
The social media giant suspended him in January 2021 following the attack that month on the US Capitol in Washington DC.
“The people have spoken,” tweeted Musk, saying that 52% of more than 15 million Twitter users voted for the ban to be lifted.
“Trump will be reinstated,” he noted, adding that Twitter engineering was working on restoring Trump’s account with its original followers.
Before the ban, Trump had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter.
A total of 15,085,458 votes were cast and, Musk said Saturday that “134M people have seen this poll.”
Trump’s account is officially back on Twitter and can be found at: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump.
Background
Trump’s use of the platform was a signature mark of his run for the presidency in 2016 and one he continued to use in the office.
He wielded it to attack enemies and dominate news cycles. His tweets often inspired ridicule and anger but also posted the content that was racist and dangerously provocative.
Twitter permanently banned Trump from its platform days after his followers violently stormed the Capitol building to try to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win.
Twitter cited concerns that Trump would incite further unrest.
In a day of shocking violence Trump supporters invaded the Capitol and in the turmoil scores of people were injured and five died.
Trump was also suspended from Facebook and Google’s YouTube over similar concerns that he would provoke violence.
Facebook’s ban will last two years, until 7 January 2023, after which the company will review his suspension. YouTube’s ban is indefinite.