Donald Trump on Saturday mentioned he had no real interest in returning to Twitter whilst a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating the previous US President, who was banned from the social media service for inciting violence, in a ballot organized by new proprietor Elon Musk.

Slightly over 15 million Twitter customers voted within the ballot with 51.8 % voting in favor of reinstatement.

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

Trump’s Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers earlier than he was banned on January 8, 2021, started accumulating followers and had almost 100,000 followers by 10pm ET Saturday (8:30 AM Monday IST). Some customers initially reported being unable to observe the reinstated account on Saturday night.

Trump had appeared lower than eager earlier within the day.

“I don’t see any reason for it,” the previous president mentioned through video when requested whether or not he deliberate to return to Twitter by a panel on the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual management assembly.

He mentioned he would stick along with his new platform Truth Social, the app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup, which he mentioned had higher person engagement than Twitter and was doing “phenomenally well”.

Twitter didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Trump, who on Tuesday launched a bid to regain the White House in 2024, praised Musk and mentioned he had at all times preferred him. But Trump additionally mentioned Twitter suffered from bots, pretend accounts and that the issues it confronted have been “incredible”.

Musk first mentioned in May he deliberate to reverse the ban on Trump, and the timing of any return by Trump was carefully watched – and feared – by lots of Twitter’s advertisers.

The billionaire has since sought to reassure customers and advertisers that such a choice can be made with consideration by a content material moderation council composed of individuals with “widely diverse viewpoints” and no account reinstatements would occur earlier than the council convened.

He additionally mentioned Twitter wouldn’t reinstate any banned customers till there was a “clear process for doing so.”

But this week, Musk reinstated comic Kathy Griffin, who had been banned for altering her profile title to “Elon Musk” which violated his new rule in opposition to impersonation with out indicating it was a parody account. There has been no new details about course of or the moderation council.

No purpose to return

A no-show by Trump might cut back issues amongst main advertisers, who’re already rattled by Musk’s drastic reshaping of Twitter.

He has halved the workforce and severely lower the corporate’s belief and security workforce, which is accountable for stopping the unfold of misinformation and dangerous content material.

These actions and Musk’s tweeting have pushed main firms to halt promoting on the positioning as they monitor how the platform handles hate speech.

On Saturday, Bloomberg reported Twitter might fireplace extra staff in its gross sales and partnership divisions, citing unnamed sources, simply days after a mass resignation of engineers.

If Trump returned to Twitter, the transfer would elevate questions on his dedication to Truth Social, which launched on Apple’s App Store in February and Google’s Play Store in October. Trump has some 4.57 million followers on Truth Social.

Truth Social has been Trump’s essential supply of direct communication along with his followers since he started posting on the app recurrently in May. He has used Truth Social to advertise his allies, criticize opponents and defend his popularity amid authorized scrutiny from state, congressional and federal investigators.

His settlement with the corporate, nevertheless, opens the door for Trump to have interaction extensively on different platforms. Trump is obligated to offer Truth Social a six-hour unique on any publish – however is free to publish “political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the vote efforts” on any website, at any time, in keeping with a May SEC submitting.

© Thomson Reuters 2022