LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk has reinstated Donald Trump’s account on Twitter after conducting a 24-hour poll.
Musk announced in the evening after holding a poll that asked Twitter users to click “yes” or “no” on whether Trump’s account should be restored. The “yes” vote won, with 51.2%, according to The Associated Press.
The move reverses a ban that has kept the former president off of the social media site for nearly two years. It is not clear whether Trump would return to Twitter after saying in the past that he would not rejoin the social media website even if his account were reinstated.
He has been relying on his much smaller social media site, Truth Social, which he launched after being blocked from Twitter, the AP reported.
On Jan. 8, 2021, Twitter formally announced that it had permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account.
In a 2021 blog post, Twitter wrote that “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them -- specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter -- we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,’” according to Twitter’s 2021 blog post. “Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
Trump had been locked out of his account after a crowd loyal to him stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6, 2021.
Check back for more on this developing story.
Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk, contributed to this story.
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