After being banned for almost two years, Donald Trump is back on Twitter thanks to Elon Musk.
To make this decision, the boss of the social network decided to trust the users.
A survey and it starts again
Without warning, and from his iPhone, Elon Musk decided this weekend to ask Twitter users (and especially his own followers) whether or not his social network should restore former US President Donald Trump’s account. For this, the billionaire decided to use a simple survey, seen according to him by 134 million people. Just over 15 million votes were cast, and 24 hours later, the “yes” vote won at 51.8%.
Musk, a free-speech pro and outspoken pro-Republican in the upcoming election only days before, then announced that Trump’s account will be back. ” Vox Populi vox dei he adds soberly, either: The voice of the people is the voice of God “. The account in question is already visible again, with a last tweet dated January 8, 2021.
covfefe
The legitimacy of this survey may raise questions. First of all, Musk (who does not hide the fact that he likes Trump) promised after the takeover that a moderation council should meet before the possible reactivation of banned accounts. Has this promise been kept? Second, the result of this poll is questionable at best. This one was mostly seen by people who follow Musk (and therefore potentially adhere to his ideas), and there is no way to verify in particular that the votes do not also come from bots.
For the record, two days after the invasion of the Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2020, Twitter decided to ban his account because of “risk of further incitement to violence”. In response to this, the former president then launched his own network, Truth Social. It now remains to be seen whether the man, back in the US presidential race for a few days, will decide to tweet again or prefer to stay on his platform. A few weeks earlier, he said he would stay home despite the fact that Twitter was now “in good hands”.
In addition to the political repercussions that this return is likely to generate, it also remains to be seen whether this decision will have new consequences for Twitter, already very shaken internally following the departure of hundreds of employees.
Source : BFM
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