Elon Musk has just unblocked Donald Trump's account. Before reactivating the page of the former president, the billionaire asked the opinion of his subscribers in a survey… apparently forgetting the moderation committee of the social network
This weekend, Elon Musk, new owner of Twitter, finally unblocked Donald Trump's account. Twenty-four hours earlier, the richest man in the world posted a poll on the issue. Elon Musk asked his subscribers to vote for or against the release of the Republican.
More than fifteen million Internet users answered the question. 51.8% of them were in favor of reactivating the account of the controversial billionaire. Obviously, this survey is not necessarily representative of the opinion of all Twitter users.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” said Elon Musk
After this tweet, the official @realDonaldTrump account promptly reappeared on the platform. The 58,000 tweets posted by the account have also been put back online. Quickly, the number of subscribers of the politician soared, passing the milestone of 87 million. Note that Trump's latest tweets, in particular referring to electoral fraud, always have a warning assuring that it could be false information
As a reminder, the Republican's account was deactivated in January 2021, after the attempted insurrection on Capitol Hill. At the time, the social network, then led by Jack Dorsey, specified that the suspension was final. Twitter believed that Donald Trump had repeatedly broken its rules by posting incitement to violence.
In the process, the boss of Twitter also unblocked the accounts of Kathie Griffin, a comedian who parodied Musk, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and the satirical site Babylon Bee. Subsequently, he also reactivated the page of Kanye 'Ye' West, excluded a few weeks earlier after making anti-Semitic remarks.
A few days after the takeover, Elon Musk had however assured that no account would be unblocked without a preliminary examination by the moderation committee. It promised that a “clear process” would be put in place before a banned user was reinstated.
In restoring Trump's account, Elon Musk does not specify whether the change was overseen by the committee. A few hours earlier, the boss of the social network explained, however, that the decision to unblock Trump had not yet been taken.
"No major decision on content or account reactivation will take place without the intervention of the council", announced Elon Musk to reassure his detractors.
Despite the reactivation of his account, Donald Trump is not willing to return to Twitter. The former president has several times announced his intention to stay on Truth Social, his own social network. While Elon Musk published the poll regarding the unblocking of his Twitter account, Trump announced on his Truth page:
"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere. Truth Social is special”.
Note that Elon Musk has always felt that ousting Trump was a serious mistake on the part of Twitter executives. Before the takeover, he had indeed assured during an interview that it was “a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and ultimately did not prevent Donald Trump from being heard”