Elon Musk reinstates former President Donald Trump on Twitter

The Twitter account of former President Donald Trump was reactivated for the first time in nearly two years on Saturday, Elon Musk announced.

The former president had been barred from Twitter indefinitely after the company said his use of the platform contributed to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. However, Musk, who previously purchased the social media platform for $44 billion, vowed to reinstate Trump once he took over the company, and asked in an online poll whether or not he should do so. The poll showed that 51.8 percent of the respondents wanted the former president back on Twitter, as opposed to 48.2 percent who voted no.

Shortly after the poll closed, Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."

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Within minutes of this announcement, former President Trump's account was once again live on the website. His last tweet was from Jan. 8, 2021, and while The Associated Press noted that his followers had been reset to zero, he had re-accrued 2.1 million of them by the time of this article's publication.

However, it remains unclear whether or not Trump will actually continue to use Twitter. The former president has previously said he would stay on his own social media platform, Truth Social, even if reinstated on Twitter. Additionally, Trump said during a speech Saturday afternoon, "I don't see any reason for it," in regards to returning to Twitter, adding that the platform had "a lot of problems," Bloomberg reported.