Elon Musk lifting a Twitter ban on former US president Donald Trump raises activists' fears of the platform turning toxic.
Elon Musk lifting a Twitter ban on former US president Donald Trump raises activists' fears of the platform turning toxic.

Former President Donald Trump has vowed he will never return to “boring” Twitter and bragged about his Truth Social platform as a site where people have “free speech.”

Trump was banned from Twitter following the deadly riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

In a new post Monday, the former president said that he is the main star on Truth Social. Trump launched the social networking platform in February 2022 and called it a right-wing-friendly alternative to Twitter. During the launch, he said that there would be little to no “content regulation” on false statements or content that incites violence.

“[It’s the] best ever - and only getting better,” Trump said in the post. “TRUTH has me, and failing, boring Twitter NEVER will.”

The microblogging platform banned Trump days after he reportedly encouraged a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol and prevent the “stealing” of the election. The riot at the Capitol led to the death of five people, including a Capitol police officer.

The former president’s vow about not coming back to Twitter comes weeks after Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he would restore Trump’s account on the social media platform if the deal to acquire the company pushes through. He added that he believes Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Trump in January 2021 was a mistake.

"I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake," Musk said in his remarks at the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference. "I would reverse the perma-ban. ... But my opinion, and Jack Dorsey, I want to be clear, shares this opinion, is that we should not have perma-bans."

"Banning Trump from Twitter didn't end Trump's voice, it will amplify it among the right and this is why it's morally wrong and flat out stupid," he added.

Musk, however, noted at the time that his acquisition of Twitter is not yet a done deal. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must first vet and approve Musk’s offer to buy the social media platform before any deal could be finalized. Currently, the SEC is investigating Musk’s late disclosure of his stake in the company.

Misleading tweets about Russia's war on Ukraine will be hidden behind messages warning they could cause real world harm under a new Twitter policy.

Misleading tweets about Russia's war on Ukraine will be hidden behind messages warning they could cause real world harm under a new Twitter policy. Photo: AFP / Olivier DOULIERY