Elon Musk becomes Twitter's largest single shareholder 1:04
(CNN) --
The news that Elon Musk is now Twitter's largest shareholder and set to join the social media giant's board is interesting for many (many) reasons.
But perhaps the most intriguing element of Musk's suddenly powerful position within Twitter is what it means for former President Donald Trump, who has been banned from the site since early 2021 in the wake of the January 6 riots in the United States Capitol.
Elon Musk accumulates more than twice that of Warren Buffett and US $ 100,000 million more than Jeff Bezos
Musk has been an outspoken advocate for free speech on the web and has criticized what he sees as social media's silencing of some voices.
Because of that, some high-profile Republicans quickly pushed Musk to reinstate Trump and others.
"Is the new majority shareholder going to bring free speech back to Twitter?" asked Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had a verified account suspended by Twitter earlier this year.
"It will take courage because the regime is investing heavily in a certain industry and threats will certainly come. However, restored freedom of expression will allow us all to defeat them."
Twitter said this week that there would be no immediate changes to its exclusion policy and adding Musk to the company's board would not change that.
"Our policy decisions are not determined by the board or shareholders, and we have no plans to reverse any policy decisions," the company said in a statement.
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Which, well, that's fine.
For now.
But if Musk could convince Twitter to reconsider its exclusion of Trump, it would give the former president a huge lifeline.
First consider the slow-moving disaster that is Truth Social, Trump's conservative alternative to Twitter.
Despite promises that the site would be fully operational by the end of March, the waiting list to gain access to the site remains long and overwhelming.
Reuters reported earlier this week that two top Truth Social executives had left their posts.
It has been clear for a long time — as when I wrote when Trump first announced Truth Social — that the world, and even the conservative and pro-Trump world, was not clamoring for ANOTHER social media site aimed at them.
Trump is currently tied to this sinking ship with no good way out.
After all, you can't present a company as a fundamental revolution in the way conservatives communicate with each other and then simply walk away from it.
ANALYSIS |
This may be Trump's most twisted request to Putin yet
Unless, of course, Twitter reinstates you.
While this would still require some rhetorical gymnastics to make sense given what Trump has said about Twitter and Truth Social, he is not a man who is unwilling to contradict himself or retract what he has said in the past.
And there's this: Trump clearly misses Twitter, a lot.
His remarks, which he posts with machine-gun frequency every day, still read like his old tweets.
A spokeswoman for the former president, Liz Harrington, captures each of Trump's statements and tweets them from her own account.
Trump would jump at the chance to return to the social media site—and regain his 88 million followers—since he a) has struggled to replicate the influence he had through the platform and b) knows how essential Twitter has been to building and maintaining your personality.
"I won," Trump said shortly after his 2016 victory in an interview with CBS News.
"I think social media has more power than the money they spent, and I think to a certain extent, I showed that."
Trump has not forgotten that lesson.
And he would love to get back on Twitter before the 2024 race starts.
Donald TrumpElon MuskSocial Media
