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'People have spoken:' Donald Trump is back on Twitter

Elon Musk's poll had 51.8% voting in favour of reinstating Trump's account

Trump Money Former US President Donald Trump

Former US President Donald Trump's account is back on Twitter, 22 months after he was banned from the social media platform for inciting violence. A poll organised by Twitter's new owner Elon Musk saw over 15 million Twitter users participating and 51.8% voting in favour of reinstating Trump's account.

"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated," Musk tweeted. "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," he added, referring to a Latin adage.

However, Trump claimed he had no interest in returning to Twitter.  "I don't see any reason for it," the former president said on whether he would return to the platform, adding that he would stick with his new platform Truth Social, the app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup. 

Trump claimed that Truth Social had better user engagement than Twitter and was doing "phenomenally well". The app has been Trump's main source of direct communication since May.  He had used it to promote his allies, lash out at opponents and defend his reputation amid legal scrutiny from state, congressional and federal investigators.

But, Trump was all praise for Musk. "I do like him... you know, he's a character and again, I like characters," he said, but added that Twitter suffered from bots, fake accounts and that the problems it faced were "incredible".

Musk had put up a poll asking users whether or not to reinstate the account of Trump, who faced a lifetime ban after the Jan 6 Capitol Hill coup. "Reinstate former President Trump," the billionaire Twitter owner posted, with a chance to vote either yes or no. "Trump poll getting '1M votes/hour," he said in a subsequent tweet.

The former President had 88 million users when his account was suspended, and his posts were often notorious, using it to attack political rivals and even post policy announcements.

His Twitter comeback was welcomed by many in the Republican party on Saturday. "Welcome back, @realdonaldtrump!" tweeted House Republican Paul Gosar.

It was in May that Musk first said he planned to reverse the ban on Trump. However, Trump's Twitter comeback comes days after he announced his bid to run for President in 2024.

More to be fired

Meanwhile, there are reports that Twitter could fire more employees in its sales and partnership divisions. This comes days after a mass resignation of engineers, reported Bloomberg.

The entrepreneur had recently offered Twitter employees an ultimatum to either stay on and work long hours in a more “hardcore" version of Twitter or leave with severance pay. Following this, many n technical roles opted to leave than expected, compared to those in sales, partnerships, and similar roles.

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