Twitter chief Mr. Elon Musk has just announced that he will reinstate former U.S. president Donald Trump’s account on the social media platform. Mr. Musk’s decision came after he conducted a poll on Twitter asking his followers and other users to decide whether to allow President Trump to make a return to the platform. The former President’s account was suspended after Twitter’s former management ruled against him in the wake of protests in the U.S. that left several people dead and created unprecedented scenes of violence at the U.S. Capitol. His removal reflected the polarization in American politics, with one spectrum welcoming the decision and the other calling it a violation of freedom of speech that is guaranteed by the American constitution.
Elon Musk Uses Twitter Poll To Make Decision For Reinstating President Trump
Musk, who took over Twitter after a long and arduous $44 billion deal this year, has shaken up things at the platform to say the least. Ever since he took over the reigns at one of the world’s most controversial and popular social media platform, his decisions have come under consistent media scrutiny - and at a time when the technology industry is facing multiple scandals. Industry and media watchers have been left confounded by the spectacular collapse of the cryptocurrency brokerage FTX and the sentencing of former healthcare executive Ms. Elizabeth Holmes - right at the time when Mr. Musk has also let a big chunk of Twitter’s engineers leave their jobs as part of his efforts to turnaround the company’s fortunes and make it turn a profit. Content regulation at Twitter is often controversial, and Musk has shared his thoughts on the affair too. According to him, Mr. Musk’s poll, in which he asked users whether the former President should be let back on the social media platform ended late evening today Eastern Time. It saw a total 15 million user accounts cast their votes, and the results were not a landslide. 51.8% of those who voted wanted the former President back, while 48.2% did not. 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 rest of Internet. The executive was prepared for the outcome, as it took him less than an hour after the results were official to announce that President Trump will now be allowed to Tweet again. In a Tweet, Mr. Musk outlined: The former President’s account is not the only one that Mr. Musk has reinstated after taking charge at Twitter. However, it is by far the one that is followed by the highest number of people. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei. The account is active now as well, but President Trump is yet to make a statement so far. After Twitter’s earlier decision to remove him, he decided to start his own social media platform called Truth Social, which has seen him communicate regularly with his followers. Now that he is back on Twitter, and Mr. Musk is in charge, it will be interesting to see how the SpaceX and Tesla executive attempts to strike a balance between the polar opposites of American politics. Mr. Musk and Twitter’s decisions on what constitute “negative” and “hate” tweets will be closely scrutinized, especially when it comes to Mr. Trump. Of course, Musk is unlikely to take all decisions himself, and should rely on any teams that he might have set up at Twitter too.
