Of . – 11.20.2022 11:22 (act. 11.20.2022 11:22)
Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been unlocked. ©AP (symbol image)
Twitter has unlocked former US President Donald Trump’s account, which had been suspended since early 2021.
The republican’s profile was again available on Saturday night (local time) on the platform – with the last tweet from January 8, 2021 at the top. A few minutes earlier, the new owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, had announced the activation after a survey among users of the short message service.
Trump’s Twitter account has been unlocked
Trump confirmed shortly before the poll deadline that he wanted his own copy of Twitter, Truth Social. Trump’s Twitter account, which once had more than 80 million followers, had its subscriber count reset to zero. Within minutes of activation, the “@realDonaldTrump” profile was already followed by more than one million Twitter users. On Truth Social, Trump has just over four million subscribers. The former president had just announced that he was running for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election—and therefore could use a bigger platform with more reach.
Elon Musk: “The people have spoken”
“The people have spoken,” Musk wrote of his decision. However, the survey was not representative: around 15 million users participated in Musk’s 24-hour survey, while the service has more than 230 million daily active users according to the latest information available. A narrow majority of 51.8% voted in favor of Trump’s return.
Trump has been banned from Twitter since January 2021. On January 6, he expressed sympathy for his supporters who stormed the Capitol – the seat of the US Parliament in Washington. There, Joe Biden’s election victory would be officially sealed. Because of the attack, this didn’t happen until hours later. Trump stoked false expectations among his supporters that Vice President Mike Pence might refuse to confirm the election results that day. During the attack, Trump tweeted that Pence lacked the courage to do the right thing. Afterwards, people in the crowd chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!” Twitter interpreted Trump’s behavior as a call to violence and permanently blocked his account because it was not the first breach.
Offensive tweets from Trump disappeared from profile
The offensive tweets from January 6th are missing from the unlocked profile. Trump’s disproved claims about the presidential election allegedly stolen from him by Biden continue to come with cautionary tales. Until Musk took over, Twitter executives always said there was no way for the former president to return. Musk, who has recently acknowledged the political views of Trump’s Republicans, had emphasized months ago that, in his opinion, there should be no lifetime bans on the service. He expressly mentioned Trump as an example.
Three weeks ago, however, Musk announced that, before restoring important accounts, a council would be formed to deal with controversial content. This now seems obsolete.
Trump didn’t want to go back to Twitter
Trump himself has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to go back to Twitter. He likes it a lot better with his own copy of Twitter, Truth Social. Also on Saturday, he recommended that his followers participate in the survey, but wrote, “We’re not going anywhere. Truth Social is special!”
Facebook, where Trump has also been blocked since January 2021, wants to decide next January whether the former president can receive a return offer.