Will Elon Musk allow Donald Trump back on Twitter?

Since Tesla owner Elon Musk clinched a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, questions have been asked about whether former US president Donald Trump would be allowed back on the platform or not.

The former president was blocked permanently by Twitter in January 2021 for sharing fake news and attacking rivals and has not been restored, forcing the Republican politician to launch his own social media platform Truth Social.

The company had said that he was "permanently suspended... due to the risk of further incitement of violence".

However, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal has broken silence on the matter, saying the new owner would decide about Trump.

In response to a question from an employee, Agrawal deferred, leaving the question for Musk to answer once he takes over the company, according to a New York Times report.

"We constantly evolve out policies," he said.

"Once the deal closes, we don’t know what direction this company will go in."

The NYT report said that Musk’s takeover “could have a seismic effect on American politics over the long term. But there's one way in which the Tesla mogul could have an immediate impact: by bringing back Donald J. Trump.”

The former president, the publication said, could cut both ways.

Blake Hounshell, a New York Times On Politics reporter, writes, “though people who have been recipients of the former president's Twitter attacks would prefer he stay off the platform, voters have consistently told pollsters that they disapprove of Mr. Trump's tweets, so his presence could also redound to the benefit of Democrats who are in desperate political need of a villain.”

Meanwhile, Trump told Fox News that he would not return to Twitter.

He assured the US TV channel that he would officially start posting “truths” to his new social media app, over the next few days.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump told Fox News on Monday. “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.”