Nov. 18 (UPI) — Elon Musk, the controversial billionaire who recently bought the social networking site Twitter, has polled its users on whether to reinstate the account of former President Donald Trump.
The simple poll, which asked users to respond “yes” or “no” on whether to reinstate Trump’s account, received nearly 5 million responses within hours as the vote hovered around 53% opposed to 47% supportive of the decision.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account on Jan. 8, 2021, just days after his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“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,” a statement on Twitter’s blog said at the time.
“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.”
Musk has faced a series of controversies since taking over the platform, including his decision to fire thousands of employees — leading to the further resignation of hundreds more.
Earlier Friday, Musk sent a set of widely distributed emails to remaining staff members asking “anyone who actually writes software” to report to the company’s headquarters.
