Elon Musk set to lift Twitter ban on Donald Trump as 15 million users vote

Elon Musk has stated that he will now lift the permanent ban placed on former US President Donald Trump’s account.

This decision was made in response to the results of a Twitter poll on whether Trump should be reinstated or not.

At the end of the poll, which lasted for 24 hours, 52% of the 15 million Twitter users that participated were in support that Trump should be reinstated. However, 48% of the participants were against the idea.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei: At the beginning of the poll, Musk had tweeted that the people would decide Trump’s fate, quoting the popular saying that the voice of the people is the voice of God. With the result of the poll favouring the return of the former President, Musk said:

• “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”

The Twitter chief had on Friday announced the lifting of suspension on some notable accounts previously suspended by Twitter. He, however, noted that a decision was yet to be made on Trump.

Former President Donald Trump’s account was suspended permanently in January 2021 after his tweet describing his supporters that stormed the US Capitol as “patriots”. Twitter said his account was suspended “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

With accounts suspended for violating Twitter policies being reinstated, Musk emphasised that the new Twitter policy is to promote freedom of speech. He, however, noted that negative or hate tweets will not be given wide reach.

He said:

• “New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach. Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.  You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of the Internet.”