Is Trump on Social Media and Will He Get His Twitter Account Back?
Former President Donald Trump was an avid social media user before he got banned. Is he back on social media and will he get his Twitter account back?
Dec. 22 2021, Published 8:17 a.m. ET
Former President Donald Trump was an avid social media user before he got banned by social media sites after the Capitol Hill violence on Jan. 6. Many of Trump’s fans wonder if he's still on social media. Will Trump get his Twitter account back?
Trump used his Twitter account often during his presidency to connect with his fans. He was especially known for his early morning tweets —many of which had a market-moving impact.
Trump is still popular despite leaving the White House.
Trump is still popular despite leaving the White House. In fact, over the last 30 days, more people have searched “Trump” than “Biden.” Google searches for Trump beat the searches for Biden over the last year also. However, Biden can take some solace from the fact that he beat Trump in terms of Google searches over the last 90 days.
Trump had a massive social media following.
Trump had a massive social media following before he got banned. In the SEC presentation, which was filed by TMTG (Trump Media and Technology Group), the company said that Trump had 89 million followers on Twitter before the ban. Trump had 33 million Facebook followers and 24 million Instagram followers.
There has been a rise in conservative social media.
There has been a rise in conservative social media networks. Many conservatives think that big social media companies are suppressing their voices. Networks like Gab, Parler, and Rumble have flourished over the last year. MeWe has also seen an increase in its user base even though it isn't a conservative network.
Trump's social network is named Truth Social.
Trump realizes the growing discontent among conservative users on social media networks. Trump has announced the launch of his own social network named Truth Social. The network will go live sometime in 2022 and many of Trump’s fans are waiting to join the network.
Trump isn't on social media but he has a Rumble account.
Despite the availability of several social media channels that would welcome Trump with open arms, he hasn’t joined any of them. Reports suggested that Trump was in talks to join Parler but he didn't.
Meanwhile, Trump has an account on Rumble, the YouTube competitor that's going public through a SPAC merger, just like Trump’s TMTG. TMTG is merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), while Rumble is merging with CF Acquisition Corp VI (CFVI).
Trump might never be back on Twitter.
There was speculation that Trump might be back on Twitter. However, he isn't on Twitter, and in all likelihood, he might never be back on the microblogging site. First, under CEO Parag Agrawal, Twitter has started even more “censoring” than it did under his predecessor Jack Dorsey.
Lately, Twitter has banned several accounts that were pushing the conservative agenda including those tracking Nancy Pelosi’s portfolio and Ghislaine Maxwell's trial. So, Twitter welcoming Trump back is probably a very unlikely scenario.
Another aspect to consider would be that with the launch of his own social media, Trump would be a competitor to Twitter. The company wouldn't want to give a voice to a competitor whose company intends to lure away Trump’s followers to his Truth Social.