Twitter reverses Trump ban; Trump refuses to return

Donald Trump has not tweeted since Elon Musk reinstated his Twitter account on Saturday. In interviews, Trump has suggested he no longer needs Twitter, planning to promote his next presidential run on his own social network, Truth Social.

 

"I don't see any reason for it," Trump said via video-conference when a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership meeting asked if he’d be logging back in to Twitter, according to Reuters. Trump claimed that Twitter's "got problems," Bloomberg reported, and he could get better user engagement on Truth Social. Many have noted that Trump is also bound to give Truth Social a six-hour exclusive on any post before he’s allowed to post anywhere else.

 

Musk made the decision to reinstate Trump’s account after launching a poll that logged more than 15 million votes—with close to 52 percent voting in favor of bringing back the former president. Nobody’s sure how much of that vote was driven by bots, The Verge reported, but that didn’t stop Musk, who is painfully aware of how bots could impact polls, from claiming the vote was driven by legitimate users.

 

“The people have spoken,” Musk tweeted, confirming that the profile for account @RealDonaldTrump would be accessible again. “Trump will be reinstated.”

 

Trump’s account was banned in 2021, when Twitter decided that two tweets in particular “were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

 

Now that Musk has reinstated the account, those are the first two tweets that anyone visiting Trump’s Twitter profile today will read. They will remain at the top of Trump’s feed unless Trump tweets again or deletes them.

 

The first says, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.” At that time, Twitter said there was already a plan for a second attack on the Capitol scheduled in the coming weeks. That led Twitter’s old guard to decide that it was possible that this tweet glorified or incited violence by serving as “encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending.”

 

The second says, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Here, Twitter decided Trump was saying that he would not be allowing for an orderly transition between his administration and President Joe Biden’s. Twitter also deemed the phrase “American Patriots” as describing Trump supporters, suggesting the tweet could potentially also be read as a show of support for “those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.”

 

Previously, Twitter viewed these tweets as so inappropriate, the social platform denied attempts by federal archivists to commandeer the account and preserve tweets for historical purposes.

 

The January 6 attack is still being investigated by Congress, but CBS News reported yesterday that all evidence collected by Congress will be shared within the next month. It’s not clear how that will affect Trump, given that he refused to cooperate with the investigation, filing a lawsuit to block a subpoena that would have compelled him to provide testimony and documents.

 

When Musk took over Twitter, he claimed that he would be forming a content moderation council before bringing back banned accounts like Trump’s. There has been no mention of that council forming since then, as Twitter has been seemingly focused more on cutting staff and developing new monetizable products and features than it has on addressing advertiser concerns over content moderation.

 

Instead, Musk appeared to make the decision to reinstate Trump based solely on the poll or intended to reinstate the account regardless of the poll results.

 

Some criticized Musk for celebrating Trump’s return by tweeting “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God." The full quote, some pointed out, translates to this warning: "Do not listen to those who say the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the tumult of the crowd is always close to madness."

 

Trump and Truth Social did not respond to Ars’ requests for comment. Twitter reportedly cut its communications department.

 

Advertisers already weary

 

Although Trump, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing, is legally obligated to post on Truth Social first, his 2024 presidential bid gives him some wiggle room to post freely on Twitter about his campaign. The SEC filing says, “he may make a post from a personal account related to political messaging, political fundraising, or get-out-the-vote efforts on any social media site at any time.”

 

For now, Trump has resisted any urge to tweet. Previously, Trump was so active on Twitter that media outlets tracked his Twitter habits. And he was so mad when Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social media companies banned him, he filed lawsuits to get those decisions overturned.

 

Likely because of this, Musk seems to expect that Trump still values Twitter and that by bringing accounts like Trump’s back, Musk can benefit from revived social engagement—perhaps even reviving Trump's glory days on Twitter when both critics and supporters would vie to be the top comment under his tweets. If Trump does tweet and reignites similar engagement levels, it's possible that Musk’s paid Twitter Blue checkmarks could become the new accessory associated with Trump followers, like the red MAGA hat, because one of the perks of Twitter Blue is greater visibility for tweet responses.

 

Although he already made the reinstatement decision, Musk still seemingly has yet to confront advertiser concerns over Trump's return. At first, the billionaire seemed to be tiptoeing around advertiser concerns when he did not immediately reinstate Trump’s account. Instead, Musk claimed that he would delay that decision until after the 2022 midterm elections, seemingly appeasing advertisers by supposedly planning to convene a content moderation council.

 

Twitter is still being monitored by brands that are unsure how Musk will protect them with only a much-diminished skeleton staff running Twitter. Just ahead of the weekend, The Verge reported that Musk fired his advertising head, and Bloomberg reported that there could be more Twitter layoffs from its sales team starting as soon as today. This weekend, CBS News as a brand made headlines by temporarily pausing tweets over “security concerns.”

 

Meanwhile, the news that Trump was back quickly trended on Twitter, giving even more advertisers reason to pause, according to NAACP President Derrick Johnson.

 

“Any advertiser still funding Twitter should immediately pause all advertising,” Johnson tweeted.

 

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