Tesla CEO Elon Musk will soon speak with (and attempt to soothe the minds of) disgruntled Twitter employees in a "highly ununsual" internal Q&A session following his appointment to the social media network's board, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Well, much like Twitter's employees, you might have some questions of your own regarding Musk's new role — chief among them, perhaps: can and will Musk bring exiled user former President Donald Trump back to Twitter?
The short answer is ... no. According to Reuters, both a company spokesperson and an employee familiar with operations said there are currently no plans to reinstate Trump or "reverse any policy decisions," Reuters writes. Since the news broke, Twitter has also continued to remind workers that Musk will not be put in charge of any significant changes — CEO Parag Agrawal still has final say over everything, per the Post.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Even if Musk appeared deeply passionate about bringing Trump back online, it would be quite "unusual for a single board member, who owns 9 percent of a company, to unilaterally change its policy on something as momentous as the Trump ban," Will Oremus writes for the Post.
But Sam Abuelsamid, an auto analyst who covers Musk's operating style at Tesla for Guidehouse Insights, told Reuters he "wouldn't be surprised" if Twitter reinstates Trump's account under Musk's influence. Chris Cillizza wrote similarly for CNN: "If Musk convinced Twitter to rethink its ban on Trump, it would throw the former president a major lifeline," he said.
Ultimately, Twitter could bring about Trump's return for a variety of reasons (e.g. he's the GOP nominee in 2024), but currently — though there's speculation — it seems unlikely Musk will become the torchbearer for that decision.
