Ex-President Donald Trump has reiterated that he does not want to return to Twitter, even if it is possible with Elon Musk as the new owner. Instead, he will stick with his own service, Truth Social, Trump told Fox News Digital on Friday. “I like it more here,” declared Trump. “I like Elon, but I’m sticking with Truth.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk completed the $44 billion takeover of Twitter on Thursday. He had criticized Trump’s permanent ban in May as “morally wrong and just plain stupid”. He also announced that he would generally abolish “lifetime” bans on users.
On Friday, however, Musk himself dampened the prospects of Trump’s possible quick return to the service. There should be no decisions to restore banned accounts until a new panel to deal with controversial content is formed.
On January 6, 2021, while still President, Trump praised his supporters who violently stormed the Capitol in Washington. As a result, he was blocked from Twitter and Facebook.
“I like Elon and wish him the best of luck,” Trump told Fox News Digital. At the same time he restricted: “I don’t think Twitter can be successful without me.” In fact, things hadn’t fared any worse for Twitter since his ban.
Trump has also said before that he would not return to Twitter, although he could. On the other hand, it was more of a theoretical possibility back then, whereas now Musk already owns Twitter. Trump had more than 80 million followers on Twitter. His Twitter copy Truth Social is only a few million. If Trump decides to run in the 2024 presidential election, he could use a bigger platform.
