Elon Musk now has the highest stake in Twitter, and the internet is in a flurry with the theory this might lead to Donald Trump’s return.
Musk’s tweets are what have sparked this theory, he recently tweeted out a poll that asked the question, “Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy. Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?”
Interestingly, 70 per cent of people replied that the platform didn’t.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
Musk then followed the poll up by tweeting, “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2022
So how does this connect to Trump? Well, Trump was famously kicked off Twitter after the Capital Riots.
Previously Twitter had been forced to adjust its rules to accommodate for Trump, adding a warning label to any Tweets made by major political figures that breach the platform’s rules, rather than deleting them.
However, after the Capital Riots, Twitter released a statement that read: “In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.
“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
Despite being removed from the platform, Trump still responded to the decision via the official presidential account. “As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me – and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” he wrote.
So Musk discussing the topic of free speech on the platform is a pretty hot button issue and it’ll be interesting to see if Trump does get his account reactivated under the guise of free speech.
