Nov. 19 (UPI) — Controversial billionaire Elon Musk, who recently purchased Twitter, announced that former President Donald Trump‘s account has been reinstated.
“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk said on the platform.
Musk had polled Twitter users on whether to reinstate the account of former President Donald Trump on Friday.
A review of Trump’s account, @realDonaldTrump, shows that his account has in fact been reinstated though the former president has not yet tweeted.
“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform before the vote concluded.
The results from the simple poll showed that 51.8% of Twitter users who responded had voted to reinstate Trump. More than 15 million votes were cast. It was not immediately clear how many bot accounts had voted.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account on Jan. 8, 2021, just days after his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“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,” a statement on Twitter’s blog said at the time.
“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.”
Musk has faced a series of controversies since taking over the platform, including his decision to fire thousands of employees — leading to the further resignation of hundreds more.
Earlier Friday, Musk sent a set of widely distributed emails to remaining staff members asking “anyone who actually writes software” to report to the company’s headquarters.
