WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump on Friday said he plans to make use of his own Truth Social media platform despite Twitter Inc’s takeover by billionaire Elon Musk, who has promised to reinstate the former U.S. president’s Twitter account.
“I like Elon, but I’m staying on Truth,” Trump told Fox News in an interview without explicitly saying he would not post on Twitter if his account is reinstated.
When he posts on his own platform, “it goes all over the place anyway,” Trump told Fox. “Everyone who is on Twitter and on all the other places, they all put it out anyway.”
Twitter banned Trump after his supporters’ deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Musk has previously said he would reinstate Trump’s account, but Trump then said he would not return.
Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, took over Twitter with brutal efficiency on Thursday, firing top executives but offering little clarity over how he will achieve his ambitions goals for the influential social media platform.
Mere hours after Musk kicked off a new era at Twitter, he was deluged with pleas and demands from banned account holders and world leaders.
Earlier, in a statement on his own platform, Trump said he was happy Twitter was in “sane hands” after Musk took over, but did not say whether he would return to his account on the platform that banned him.
Trump added that he thought his own platform “looks and works better,” writing: “I LOVE TRUTH.”
Others whose Twitter accounts were suspended have had or could have them reinstated soon.
(Reporting by Washington newsroom; Editing by Howard Goller)
