According to Fox News, former U.S. President Donald Trump said he would not return to Twitter, even though Elon Musk bought the social media company and restored his account. Trump will use his own TRUTH Social ("Truth Social") as his only platform for voice.
On Monday afternoon, local time, Twitter announced that it had accepted Elon Musk's acquisition agreement, and Musk would buy Twitter for $54.2 per share, totaling about $44 billion.
The former president told Fox News on Monday that he will officially join his OWN TRUTH Social within the next seven days as planned.
"I'm not going to use Twitter, I'm going to stay at TRUTH," Trump told Fox News. "I hope Elon acquires Twitter because he will improve on it and he is a good guy, but I will stay on TRUTH."
Trump told Fox News that he would begin "posting content at TRUTH" in the coming week.
TRUMP Media Technology Group's (TMTG) social media platform, TRUTH Social, officially launched last month, has been running for four days under its brand new cloud service, after testing began in February.
Former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes is the company's CEO.
"We're taking in millions of people, and we're finding that the response onTRUTH is much better than the reaction on Twitter," Trump said. "Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we're doing everything we can." He added: "The bottom line is, no, I'm not going back to Twitter. ”
After the U.S. Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat banned Trump's accounts. Twitter found some of his tweets related to violent protests inflammatory and warned that there was "a risk of further incitement to violence."
Asked if Musk-owned Twitter could compete with TRUTH, Trump said he felt it would be a positive development in the social media space.
"I think it's good." "We want our country to be free, just and fair, and the more open we are, the better," Trump said. But I don't see it as a competition for what I'm doing. ”
"It's a platform for me to speak out. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and my supporters," Trump said. "But I want everyone to come toTRUTH – conservatives, liberals, whatever it is."
The former president said Twitter "became very boring because when I left, conservatives were kicked out or left the platform."
"It gets boring because there's no interaction," Trump said. "The interaction on TRUTH has been amazing." He added: "We want everyone to be able to join the interaction. "
"TRUTH Social will be a voice for me," Trump continued. "And it's something that nobody else can get."
The former president would not comment on whether he had engaged Musk.
A familiar source told Fox News that Trump and Musk have a very good relationship. The source said Trump defended Musk in 2018 after tesla's CEO was charged with securities fraud for misleading tweets about potential deals for Tesla's privatization.
Musk, who said on Twitter on Monday, said: "I want even my worst critics to stay on Twitter because that's what free speech means." ”
Meanwhile, TMTG CEO Devon Nunes told Fox News on Monday that TRUTH Social has an "unbreakable architecture that is now working flawlessly and fast." ”
"What Trump started with this company is really a movement that led us to a point where now Elon Musk is saying, hey, it's a problem," Nunes said. "We're glad he's saying it's a problem."
The topic of content moderation has been censored by critics on the right, who argue that if tech giants censor certain views, they should no longer enjoy the protections of Section 230 of the Communications Regulations Act.
Crucial to the rise of today's social media giant, the provision allows not only Internet service providers — but also Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others — to be exempted from the responsibility of third parties for publishing content on their platforms in most cases.
Currently, article 230 of the Communications Regulation Act provides that "no provider or user of an interactive computer service may be deemed to be the publisher or spokesperson of any information provided by another provider of information content." ”
TMTG said last month that its partners had reached agreements with institutional investors for $1 billion in capital. TMTG's plan is to do so through a publicly traded Digital World Acquisition Corp. Merged to form a public company, the latter being a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).