Will Trump return to Twitter now with Musk at the helm?
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(CNN Business) --
With his decision Saturday to restore former President Donald Trump's personal Twitter account nearly two years after it was permanently suspended, Elon Musk could plunge the social network into deeper chaos, and that may be the point
In the weeks since Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, the influential social network has lost so many staff that users and employees have raised concerns about its ability to continue operating.
It has also suffered a "huge drop in revenue," according to Musk, as a growing number of brands halt advertising amid uncertainty about the direction and stability of the platform.
Elon Musk Restores Donald Trump's Twitter Account
The return of Trump will not help either problem.
The company's servers are "being stress tested by @elonmusk right now," tweeted Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and a former Twitter employee who works with Musk to manage the server. company.
(He also noted that Trump's return comes a day before the World Cup begins, a high-traffic event for the platform.)
Also this Saturday, NAACP President Derrick Johnson sent an urgent warning to companies still doing business with Twitter: "Any advertisers still funding Twitter must immediately stop all advertising."
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Some advertisers have previously signaled they could halt spending on the platform if Trump were reinstated, potentially dealing another blow to a company that generates nearly all of its revenue from advertising.
Before buying Twitter, Musk had repeatedly said he would reinstate Trump's account and reconsider the platform's approach to permanent bans as part of his maximalist vision of "free speech."
But Musk also tried to assure brands and users that he would establish a "content moderation board" to determine whether Trump and other banned account holders would return to the platform.
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There is no indication that this group was established, much less involved in the decision to restore Trump.
Instead, Musk tweeted a poll on Friday, asking his supporters to vote on whether or not to restore Trump's account.
He won "Yes," and Musk tweeted Saturday: "The people have spoken.
Trump will be reinstated.
Vox Populi, Vox Dei”, in Latin, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”.
If Musk has any strategy behind the decision and his timing, he seems to be betting that the chaos is a good show.
Through all the mass layoffs and staff departures, the controversial paid verification option introduced and withdrawn, prominent brands and celebrities pulling out of the platform, and widespread criticism of his inflammatory comments, Musk has repeatedly stressed that Twitter is reaching all-time highs in the number of users.
Now add Trump to the equation.
Throughout his time as president, Trump was the highest-profile and often most controversial user on the platform, forcing Twitter to think about how it should handle a sitting world leader who mocks North Korea with threats of nuclear destruction (they were allowed to) and encourages a violent pro-Trump mob to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 (which got them suspended).
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But Trump also made Twitter the center of the well-known media and political universe.
His tweets made headlines, moved markets and shaped the agenda in Washington.
Celebrities, world leaders, and a long list of critics and supporters often engaged with Trump directly on Twitter.
The world could not look away.
It is unknown if Trump will tweet as frequently, or if he will now that he has his own network, Truth Social.
And if he does, his tweets may not get as much attention as they did when he was acting president.
But Musk's decision to bring Trump back also comes days after Trump announced that he would re-run for president, raising the likelihood that Trump's comments and his tweets, if he post them, don't be ignored.
Musk is clearly still in the early days of setting up his so-called Twitter 2.0.
In addition to reshuffling staff and competing to bolster Twitter's results through subscription products, he has yet to formalize his policies on bans and suspensions.
But one answer seems clear: Musk seems to bet that if users can't walk away from the platform, neither can advertisers.
And with enough eyes on the site, you may be able to find new ways to make money from them.
All you have to do is find a way to keep the lights on.
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