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| - Fact Check: No, Musk did not restore Trump's Twitter and the ex-US Prez did not thank the Tesla CEO for it
Former US President Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter in January 2021. And Elon Musk, who has yet to close his Twitter deal, has not restored Trump's account.
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India Today Fact Check
This is an impostor account impersonating Donald Trump. The former US President’s account remains suspended on Twitter.
Elon Musk recently hit the headlines for welcoming American rapper Kanye West back to Twitter. The latter had been inactive for almost two years.
Following this, many online users shared screenshots of a tweet by former US President Donald Trump, thanking Musk for restoring his Twitter account. “Thank you Elon Musk, I’m Back!!” read the tweet dated October 9.
Trump was suspended from Twitter in January 2021. And Musk right now is yet to close his Twitter deal — news reports indicate he might before the end of October.
Archives of such posts can be found here, and here.
AFWA found that Trump is still suspended from Twitter. The screenshot making the rounds was that of an account impersonating Trump.
AFWA Probe
We did not find any news reports that said Trump’s Twitter account had been restored. We also noticed that the Twitter handle visible in the screenshot was that of “@realDonJTru”. Trump’s Twitter account was “@realDonaldTrump”.
We checked the account and found that it was created in September 2022. This account had very few followers, and the logo of the New York Times as its cover — obviously, an impostor account. However, this was not the account whose tweet was being circulated.
We then searched for the exact text of the viral tweet on Google. The results led us to a tweet from an account that had a dot for a name. The Twitter handle was “@BenJohn97534340”. We noticed that many had replied to or quoted this tweet, addressing the user as Trump.
We then checked the cached version of the tweet. The profile picture next to the tweet in the cached version was that of Trump, the same as the one in the viral screenshot. The cached version also shows the handle “@realDonJTru”. We checked the archived version of this Twitter account and found the viral tweet pinned to the profile.
Following the insurrection at the United States Capitol by a mob of Trump’s supporters on January 6, 2021, Twitter suspended Trump’s account for breaching the platform’s rules and inciting violence. That suspension continues to remain in effect.
So, it is clear that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was not restored. It is noteworthy, however, that Musk has criticised Twitter’s decision to ban Trump as a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.”
“I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” said Musk in May this year, adding that he preferred temporary suspensions and other narrowly tailored punishments for content that is illegal or otherwise “destructive to the world.” Musk, ultimately said that he “would” reverse the ban but that he did not own Twitter yet.
(Written by Sanjana Saxena)
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