Trump vows not to return to Twitter despite Elon Musk’s purchase

Former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter in January 2021, will not return to the social media platform even if new owner Elon Musk allows him back on. 

Mr. Trump said he will instead become active on TRUTH Social, the social media platform he founded and launched in March as an alternative to Twitter. He pledged TRUTH Social will be the sole platform for his voice.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”

Mr. Trump said he will begin “Truthing” — as opposed to tweeting — over the next week. “The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter,” he said.

The announcement ends days of speculation about whether Mr. Trump would rejoin the site, where before his banishment he had close to 80 million followers. 

Mr. Musk, who was critical of Twitter’s de-platforming and censorship, struck a deal Monday to buy Twitter for $44 billion and plans to privatize the company. Many speculated he would reinstate the accounts of Mr. Trump and other banned conservative handles, such as the Babylon Bee, which tweets satire aimed at liberals. 

Twitter suspended Mr. Trump, who tweeted under the handle @realDonaldTrump, on January 8, 2021, following Mr. Trump’s efforts to scrutinize the results of the 2020 election, which he said was rigged in favor of Joe Biden. 

Twitter officials cited Trump’s tweets following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by violent throngs of his supporters.

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” Trump tweeted on Jan. 8. He then tweeted that he would not be attending Mr. Biden’s inauguration on January 20. 

Twitter said the tweets violated the social media site’s policy against the glorification of violence.

Mr. Trump is also banned from Facebook.

Since his de-platforming from the major social media sites, Mr. Trump has sent out statements and announcements to the media and others via email and calls to conservative talk shows on TV and radio. 

Twitter has been criticized for de-platforming conservatives and content that could damage Democrats. In the fall of 2020, The site blocked a New York Post story outlining the contents of a laptop owned by Mr. Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, that suggested the younger Biden was using his father’s powerful position to secure lucrative deals with China and other foreign governments.