After a nearly two-year suspension, Trump could be finally returning to Twitter, a platform where he once garnered about 89 million followers.
What Happened: A poll run by Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter whether Trump should be reinstated on the platform returned results in favor of the former president, although by a slender margin.
About 51.8% of the over 15 million who responded to the poll were in favor of Trump’s return, while 48.2% voted against it.
The level of interest in the survey caught everyone’s attention, including Musk's.
“Trump poll getting ~1M votes/hour,” Musk tweeted while the poll was ongoing. He further went on to tweet about 134 million people have seen the poll.
The final tally showed about 15.09 million votes were cast, and the tweet received 618,000 likes and was commented on 189,000 times, it was retweeted 288,300 times.
True to his word, Musk concluded after the end of the poll that Trump will be reinstated and repeated the Latin phrase “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which means the voice of the people is the voice of God.
What It Means For Trump: After Trump was booted from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021, following the Capitol riot, he came up with a competing platform named Truth Social, which is owned by the Trump Media and Technology Group, or TMTG. TMTG is eying to become a public company, given its financing needs, and has negotiated a deal with special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp. DWAC.
The former president currently uses Truth Social to air his views, and as of October 2022, he had about 4.18 million followers on the platform. A Twitter reinstatement would give Trump a wider reach, both in North America and elsewhere. Truth Social is currently available for only users in North America.
A return to Twitter could amplify Trump's voice, especially at a time when he has decided to enter the 2024 presidential race, allowing him to connect with supporters and get to the pulse of his followers.
What Happens To Digital World: Digital World is already mired in controversy as it is under the SEC and DOJ scanner over the information provided to the regulators while filing for the SPAC deal. The consummation of the partnership is delayed inordinately, and the company has sought shareholder approval for the same.
As recently as Nov. 3, Digital World announced that it is delaying the shareholder vote for a merger deadline extension until Nov. 22 in order to get support from more shareholders. If Trump accepts Musk’s offer to return to Twitter, it could prove a negative for Digital World and Truth Social, which could capitalize on Trump's notoriety and his ability to draw users and engagements.
Digital World shares ended Friday’s session at $21.38, up 7.22%, according to Benzinga Pro data. This is a far cry from the $101.87 peak reached on March 2, 2022, around the time Truth Social was launched.
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Photo: Courtesy of Dunk and Gage Skidmore on flickr.
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