With billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, experts believe that the exile of anti-vaxxers, QAnon loyalists, neo-Nazis, and former US President Donald Trump can come to an end.
Jaime Longoria, manager of research and training at the Disinfo Defence League, said “There’s no reason why these folks wouldn’t want to be in this space.”
The league is a non-profit that works with local organisations to combat the effects of misinformation.
“Ultimately I think Elon’s promise to save the public square is going to create a square that nobody wants to be in.”
Both Musk and Trump refer to themselves as ”free speech absolutists” but they chose a different approach.
After being banned from Twitter, Trump started Truth Social. Meanwhile, Musk, who has criticised the microblogging platform for its bots and content policy, presented an offer of $44 billion to buy it.
Republican lawmakers, who have accused the social media platform of bias against right-leaning views, had welcomed the news that Musk was purchasing Twitter Inc.
Representative Jim Jordan, a member of the Freedom Caucus of conservative House Republicans, tweeted “Free speech is making a comeback.”
However, shortly afterwards Trump announced his return on Truth Social with a post saying “I’M BACK!”
In an interview with Fox News, he said “I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on Truth.”
When questioned about Musk’s buyout of Twitter, he said “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man.”
But experts believe that if the Republican Party announces Trump as their candidate for the presidential election in 2024, his return to Twitter is in inevitable.
Also read | After Musk buyout, progressive Twitter accounts lost followers and conservatives gain
According to Emerson Brooking, resident fellow at the Digital Forensic Research Lab of the Atlantic Council, “If Donald Trump is the presidential nominee for the Republican Party in 2024, it’s almost unthinkable that he won’t return to Twitter the moment he has the opportunity to do so.”
In what could be its last quarter as a public company after agreeing to a buyout, Twitter reported stronger than expected user growth.
A group of 18 US House Republicans sent Twitter board members a letter asking them to preserve all records and materials relating to Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter, laying the groundwork for a potential investigation.
The order to save records strongly suggests Jordan plans to probe Twitter if the Musk offer is rejected and Republicans take back the House in midterm elections in November.
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(With inputs from agencies)
