The two biggest questions following Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter seem to be:
1) How do you delete Twitter?
2) Will Donald Trump be returning to Twitter?
You can find the answer to the first question here; as for the second, Musk fired the executive who played a key role in banning the former president from the social media platform. The world’s richest person has also said, “I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake,” and that it would be “great to unwind permanent bans, except for spam accounts and those that explicitly advocate violence.” (Also, elf-like ex-girlfriends.) So, yeah, Trump is probably coming back, but he hasn’t returned yet — but some right-wing commenters, like “stupid” conspiracy theorist documentarian Dinesh D’Souza and Fox News contributor Leo Terrell, and a Russian-owned news agency fell for a hoax announcement about Trump’s ban being lifted.
A statement from former president Donald Trump hailing his imminent return to Twitter was roundly hailed by right-wing commentators and even Russian state media Thursday — until it turned out to be fake. The fake statement appeared shortly after Elon Musk sealed his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. Musk has said previously that he intends to reinstate Trump’s account.
“Congratulations to Elon Musk on his purchase of Twitter. Many people are saying that change was needed, as the old management was too concerned with the woke agenda,” the bogus statement reads. “I have been told that my account will be back up and running on Monday — we will see. Happy to be able to engage with an African-American owned business.” You can tell it’s fake because he doesn’t say “haters” or “losers” even once, but that didn’t stop folks from both sides of the political spectrum (but mostly right-wingers) from falling for it.
President Trump returns to @Twitter ! https://t.co/uGvO5AIJRz
— TheLeoTerrell (@TheLeoTerrell) October 28, 2022
In the rush of reporting on Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter we included some bad information about Donald Trump’s reaction to the deal. We regret the error.
— Alex Wagner Tonight (@WagnerTonight) October 28, 2022
Dinesh D’Souza was duped by a fake Trump press release. pic.twitter.com/c49e7pllE6
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) October 28, 2022
Right wingers are passing around this fake statement that Trump will be back on Twitter on Monday. His account surely will be reinstated, but this is fake. pic.twitter.com/qFpeOlsteE
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) October 28, 2022
Tweet retracted. No statement from Donald Trump on Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been released. This was a fake statement circulating. Error regretted. pic.twitter.com/PkLm6UtqRj
— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2022
Devin Nunes writes on Truth Social the fake Trump press release is “fakenews” and “left wing desperation for Donald Trump to go back to T[w]itter.” But, turns out it was mostly right-wingers: pic.twitter.com/2ITt4izE3b
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) October 28, 2022
(Via Business Insider)