CORRECTION (1:30 p.m. ET) Corrects to clarify the process by which followers have been reinstated to Trump’s account and how crypto CEO accounts were re-added as followers.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is back on Twitter.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced the move Saturday night following a Twitter poll on Friday that drew more than 15 million votes. Trump’s account became visible in the wake of Musk’s announcement, but as of yet, Trump has not issued a tweet.
Attention quickly turned to the fact that, at least initially, nearly all of Trump’s followers had been disconnected. Social activity suggests that some of the users who attempted to refollow his account encountered a bug that required them to re-follow several times. Since then, Trump’s follower count has swelled above 80 million.
BigCryptoAlert, an account that tracks the Twitter activity of key players in the blockchain industry was abuzz in the wake of Trump’s reinstatement, highlighting refollows by Block CEO Jack Dorsey, Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss and Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson. It’s not clear who among those tagged by BigCryptoAlert were manual refollows or automated ones.
According to a post in Twitter’s Help Center, reinstated accounts may not immediately retain all of their followers. “Some people’s following/followers or Tweet counts do not immediately display their previous numbers upon reactivation. Don’t worry, these will be fully restored within 24 hours of reactivation,” the firm says.
Cardano’s Hoskinson later marked the occasion by tweeting out a poll asking users if Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk might redistribute his followers to fellow Republican nominee hopeful Ron DeSantis. Earlier this month, Trump announced a 2024 presidential bid.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The former president’s attitude toward crypto is unclear. Trump said he was “not a fan” of bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies in 2019, and has more recently called the tech a “scam.” Still, some of the regulators that he appointed during his administration have gone on to work for crypto companies. Former first lady Melania Trump also released her own NFT collection last December.
Trump’s account on the platform was removed by Twitter in what was understood to be a “permanent suspension” after riotous events that took place in the U.S. Capitol last year on Jan. 6.
Musk took control of the social media platform last month. Since then, the platform has been plagued by internal strife and rampant staff reductions, with Twitter’s crypto boss leaving the company on Friday.
© 2022 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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