Why Did Twitter Unblock ex-President Trump?
Actually, Elon Musk only wanted to reactivate controversial Twitter accounts after the establishment of an advisory committee.
Twitter has unlocked ex-President Donald Trump's account, which has been suspended since early 2021. The profile of the US politician was again available on the platform on the evening of November 19, 2022 - with the previous tweet of January 8, 2021, at the top.
The new Twitter owner Elon Musk had just announced the activation after a survey among users of the short message service. Shortly before the survey deadline, Trump reiterated that he wanted to stick with his own Twitter copy, Truth Social.
Trump's account was reset to zero in subscriber count - when the account was deactivated in January 2021, he had more than 80 million followers on Twitter. Within minutes of going live, the @realDonaldTrump profile was already being followed by more than a million Twitter users.
Donald Trump wants to run for US President again
At Truth Social, Trump has just over four million subscribers. The Republican ex-president had just announced that he would be running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election - and could therefore use a larger platform with more reach.
"The people have spoken," Musk wrote about his decision. However, the survey was not representative: according to the company, around 15 million users took part in the survey scheduled by Musk for 24 hours, while the service has more than 230 million active users daily according to the latest available information. A narrow majority of 51.8 percent is said to have spoken out in favor of Trump's return.
Trump has been away from Twitter since January 2021
Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021. On January 6, 2021, he expressed sympathy for his supporters who stormed the Capitol - the seat of the US Parliament in Washington. There, Joe Biden's election victory was to be officially sealed. Because of the attack, this didn't happen until hours later.
Trump had fed false expectations among his supporters that Vice President Mike Pence could refuse to confirm the election results that day. During the attack, Trump tweeted that Pence didn't have the courage to do the right thing. Afterward, people in the crowd shouted, "Hang Mike Pence!" Twitter interpreted Trump's behavior as a call for violence and permanently suspended his account because it was not the first violation.
The offensive tweets from January 6, 2021, are missing from the unlocked profile. Trump's refuted claims about the presidential election allegedly being stolen from him by Joe Biden continue to come with cautionary tales.
Musk promised Trump's account reactivation as early as 2021
Until Musk took over, Twitter managers always communicated that there was no way for the ex-president to return. Musk recently acknowledged the political positions of Trump's Republicans. The current Twitter owner already stressed in May 2022 that he considered the decision to block Donald Trump's account to be "stupid and wrong". Musk reiterated at the time that he would unblock Trump's Twitter account.
Three weeks ago, however, Musk announced that before restoring significant accounts, an advisory panel would be formed to deal with controversial content. This now seems obsolete. According to Musk, the reactivation of disputed accounts is a step towards freedom of expression - previously he fired many people from the company who publicly criticized him.
Trump's account remains blocked on Facebook
Trump himself has said repeatedly that he does not want to return to Twitter. He likes it much better with his own copy of Twitter, Truth Social. On November 19, 2022, while he recommended his followers there to take the survey, he wrote: "We're not going anywhere. Truth Social is special!"
Trump's account has also been blocked on Facebook since January 2021. The company wants to decide next January whether the ex-president could be offered a return.
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