Elon Musk reinstates former president Trump on Twitter after user poll

Elon Musk announced on Saturday night that he will reinstate the Twitter account of former president Donald Trump after putting the matter to a public vote for 24 hours from Friday to Saturday afternoon.

Musk, who took over Twitter just weeks ago, Tweeted at almost 8PM on Saturday, “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”

The CEO’s Tweet translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God,” and is the second time Musk has Tweeted the phrase since putting out the poll on Friday.

The final results of the poll showed that of the 15,085,458 votes cast, 51.8 percent voted to reinstate Trump’s account, and 48.2 percent voted against it. Trump’s account was suspended in January 2021 after the Capitol riot, with Twitter claiming his Tweets following the incident were likely to incite further violence.

Musk has already suspended and reinstated several other accounts since his takeover, including that of comedienne Kathy Griffin, who was banned from Twitter earlier this month after impersonating Musk amid the chaos surrounding the blue checkmark that ensued after Musk began charging $8 a month for a verified Twitter account.

Trump may or may not return to tweeting again, since he has repeatedly said that he would be staying on his platform Truth Social.