Trump snubs Twitter after Musk announces reactivation of ex-president’s account

Donald Trump on Saturday said he had no interest in returning to Twitter even as a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the former US President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a poll organised by new owner Elon Musk.

Slightly over 15 million Twitter users voted in the poll with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstatement.

"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk tweeted.

Picture used for illustrative purposes only.

Trump's Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers before he was banned on Jan. 8, 2021, began accumulating followers and had nearly 100,000 followers by 10pm ET Saturday. Some users initially reported being unable to follow the reinstated account on Saturday evening.

Trump had appeared less than keen earlier in the day.

"I don't see any reason for it," the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting.

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He said he would stick with his new platform Truth Social, the app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup, which he said had better user engagement than Twitter and was doing "phenomenally well".

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. Trump, who on Tuesday launched a bid to regain the White House in 2024, praised Musk and said he had always liked him. But Trump also said Twitter suffered from bots, fake accounts and that the problems it faced were "incredible".

More than 15 million people — out of 237 million daily Twitter users — voted on whether to reinstate the controversial profile, with 51.8 per cent in favour and 48.2 per cent against.

Elon Musk ran a poll in which a narrow majority of voters supported the move.

Musk's poll asked for a simple "yes" or "no" response to the statement "Reinstate former President Trump," which the billionaire Twitter boss posted Friday.

"Fascinating to watch Twitter Trump poll!" Musk mused Saturday morning in a blast of tweets from the controversial and hard-charging new owner of the one-to-many messaging platform.

He has posed similar polls in the past, asking followers last year if he should sell stock in his electric car company Tesla. Following that poll, he sold more than $1 billion in shares.

'I have Truth Social'

Trump said Saturday he would not return to the popular platform but instead remain on his own network, Truth Social, launched after he was banned from Twitter.

Appearing via video at a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, Trump said he welcomed the poll and was a fan of Musk, but appeared to reject any return.

"He did put up a poll and it was very overwhelming... but I have something called... Truth Social."

This photo shows the supporters of Donald Trump protest. File photo

As to whether he would return to the platform, he said: "I don't see it because I don't see any reason for it."

Trump had not posted to Twitter by late Saturday, though he did share a series of unrelated messages on his Truth Social account, including opinion articles criticizing the US Justice Department's appointment of a special counsel this week to investigate his role in the Capitol attack.

But several of his political allies were highlighting his return.

"Welcome back, @realdonaldtrump!" tweeted House Republican Paul Gosar.

Prominent Trump-backer Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose personal account is also suspended, re-tweeted several of his previous posts from her official government account, including some tweets that were still marked with fact-checking badges refuting his claims about 2020 election fraud.

"Anyone who thinks President Trump isn't going to win the 2024 primary is fooling themselves," she tweeted.

Agence France-Presse