The billionaire’s latest poll — that posted Wednesday and closed on Thursday — asked whether Twitter should offer amnesty to suspended accounts as long as they haven’t broken the law or “engage in egregious spam.” More than 70 percent of respondents voted “yes” to the poll, which had more than 3 million votes cast.
Musk had also used a poll last weekend and reinstated Trump based on the results. While Trump has yet to tweet, and claims he’s sticking to his own Truth Social platform with no immediate plans to rejoin Twitter, other conservative accounts that have been reinstated have been active.
Musk’s decision to reinstate Trump and Taylor Greene, who both have pushed conspiracy theories and hate speech, was condemned by civil rights groups. Despite the return of the banned accounts, politicians who use Twitter to reach journalists and voters have decided to remain.
“If or when the journalists leave, the politicians will follow because it is a crucial platform for shaping public opinion and narrative,” said Eric Wilson, managing partner at Republican investment fund Startup Caucus.
Also, there’s still no heir apparent to Twitter that has the established network effect and base of users for politicians to quickly jump on to.
“I just haven’t seen an exodus from political opinion makers because there’s no obvious platform for them to go to, and so politicians will continue to engage,” Wilson said.
Rebecca Kern
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