Donald Trump Says He Won’t Return to Twitter After Musk Deal

Former United States President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will not be returning to Twitter even if he has his account reinstated now that Elon Musk is at the helm of the social media giant.

Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion USD and take the company private immediately stirred alarm among US Democrats worried former President Trump will return to his onetime favourite social media platform and spread disinformation.

However, it looks like the former president doesn’t have any plans of the sort, instead choosing to stay with his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Speaking with Fox News yesterday ahead of Musk’s Twitter deal being announced, Trump said he wouldn’t return to Twitter even if asked. “I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth [Social],” he said. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth.”

The former president doesn’t consider Twitter to be competition for Truth Social. “I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better … But no, I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing.”

Twitter permanently suspended Trump because of what it called “the risk of further incitement of violence” after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to halt the certification of President Biden’s victory.

Twitter’s board accepted Musk’s $44 billion USD offer to take the social media company private, the company confirmed Monday. The deal is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

Musk has complained that Twitter’s moderators have gone too far in regulating speech on the platform. “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” said the Tesla and SpaceX CEO.