It has been clear since Monday: Tesla founder Elon Musk will take over the short message service Twitter for around 44 billion US dollars. The surprising deal between the social media platform and the multi-billionaire also raises the question of whether it will have a direct impact on American politics: There is a particularly intense discussion as to whether former US President Donald Trump could return to Twitter.
Banned from Twitter in early 2021
Trump himself immediately denied this on Monday. Instead, he wants to use the “TRUTH Social” service he created himself. “I will not go to Twitter, I will stay with TRUTH,” the controversial Republican politician told conservative US broadcaster Fox News. But he hopes that Elon Musk will buy Twitter “to introduce improvements”. He himself wants to start posting on “TRUTH Social” in the coming week – a process that Trump called “TRUTHing”.
Trump was permanently banned from Twitter and other social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat by some of his supporters in early 2021 during the storming of the US Capitol in Washington. Twitter found that Trump’s tweets incited violent protests.
Before his Twitter account “@realdonaldtrump” was blocked, the ex-president and real estate entrepreneur was followed by more than 88 million users. During his presidency, but also during his election campaign, Twitter was the essential medium for Trump to regularly express himself, thus reaching a mass audience and shaping his party’s agenda.
Trump: No competition to “TRUTH Social”
Whether the ex-president’s No, who is being traded for another presidential bid in 2024, is final remains to be seen. There was only speculation about Trump’s possible return to Twitter after Elon Musk had repeatedly criticized the platform in the past and accused it of excessive censorship of content. In a statement on his acquisition Monday, Musk said freedom of expression is “the bedrock of a functioning democracy” and that Twitter is the digital marketplace where the issues that matter to the future of humanity are discussed. He wants to make Twitter “better than ever” and unleash the “tremendous potential” of the network.
Trump, meanwhile, told Fox News that he saw no competition for his own network, TRUTH Social, in Musk’s takeover of Twitter. Instead, he spoke of a “positive development” in the social media landscape. “We want freedom and justice and fairness in our country, and the more of it that’s out in the open the better,” Trump said.
The “TRUTH Social” service was launched in February as an alternative to Twitter, but has so far only got off the ground slowly. Technical problems and comparatively moderate user interest caused massive problems for the platform in the first few weeks. So far, there has only been one post from Trump himself on the platform: “Get ready! Your favorite President will see you soon!”
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