Elon Musk has revived the Twitter account of former President Donald Trump, almost two years after the company banned him for violating Twitter's Glorification of Violence policy with his reaction to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk tweeted on Saturday night, adding "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," which is Latin for "the voice of the people (is) the voice of God."
Yesterday, Musk asked via a Twitter poll if Trump's account should be reinstated. With over 15 million votes, 51.8% of people said the former president should return to the platform.
The @realDonaldTrump account, which has displayed "Account suspended" since Jan. 9, 2021, is now back online. Trump has not yet posted any new tweets; the last thing he tweeted was a message about how he would not attend President Joe Biden's inauguration.
In February 2021, Twitter CFO Ned Segal said that Trump's Twitter ban would be permanent, even if he ran for office again. But that was before Musk acquired the company for $44 billion. He officially took over in late October, and it's been a turbulent few weeks with the SpaceX and Tesla CEO at the helm.
Musk laid off approximately half the staff, top-level execs—including Segal—quit, and even more employees headed for the exits this week after Musk demanded that employees be "extremely hardcore" about their work.
Musk said in May that he would allow Trump back on the platform, but after the deal was finalized, he said he would leave decisions about controversial account bans to a content council. That's apparently no longer the case; this weekend, he also reinstated the accounts of Kathy Griffin, Jordan Peterson, and the Babylon Bee.
Earlier this year, Trump said he wouldn't return to Twitter even if asked. "I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth [Social]," he told Fox News. Truth Social is the rival social network Trump created after he was kicked off most social networks, including Facebook and YouTube, after Jan. 6. As of Saturday night, Trump had not posted anything about Twitter on Truth Social.
The news comes a few days after Trump announced plans to run for president in 2024. He's also facing numerous investigations into his role in the Jan. 6 attack, his mishandling of classified documents after he left office, and his business dealings.
On Friday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a Special Counsel in connection with two ongoing criminal investigations: whether any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote, and possible obstruction of the documents investigation.
Twitter, meanwhile, banned Trump in 2021 after he failed to take quick action to calm the violence on Capitol Hill. It was hours before he asked the crowd to "stay peaceful." Approximately 30 minutes later, he added "No violence!" However, he also posted a since-deleted video that ended with him telling the crowd: "We love you, you’re very special."
At the time, Twitter said Trump's tweets "must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks."
That pattern included Trump falsely insisting over and over that the 2020 election was stolen and that Joe Biden had not been elected president. Those tweets are now back online, including one from the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, that urged former Vice President Mike Pence to exhibit "extreme courage" and send votes "back to the States." Hours after that tweet was posted, an angry mob breached the US Capitol, with some chanting "hang Mike Pence."