Elon Musk, owner of a social media site, known as X, gained a win when former US President, Donald Trump, decided to resume using the platform. Calling out his adversaries, Trump posted a campaign video, claiming that he was being targeted not for his own sake, but for his followers’. Ahead of a planned interview with Musk on X’s live-stream feature named Spaces, Trump posted several remarks including questioning if the country was in a better state post his presidency.
Trump’s return to X after almost a year’s break might breathe some life into the site, which has been grappling with competition from emerging platforms such as Trump’s Truth Social, as well as scepticism from advertisers. This was more profound when just last week, an influential advertising group was sued by Musk.
However, the site could possibly garner more political advertising interest should Trump reclaim his influential status on the platform. Trump had utilised the site heavily during his presidency, using it as a platform to announce policies and criticise his competitors. Trump’s posting frequency on the site had increased over his term, starting from an average nine posts a day.
Trump had been banned from X, formerly known as Twitter, in 2021 following a violent episode at the US Capitol sparked by his supporters in opposition to the election results. He was accused by Twitter for instigating violence via his posts to his significant follower count of 88 million and his account was subsequently deactivated.
Following this, Musk who purchased X in 2022, reactivated Trump’s account, encouraging him to return to use the platform with the hope that Trump’s addition might stimulate more user activity on the platform.
Nonetheless, Trump launched Truth Social, where he currently has 7 million followers. In accordance with his contract, he has to post content there prior to posting on other platforms, unless the posts relate to his campaign or politics.
On Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock opened at a lower value, recording a drop of over 4% following the commencement of Mr. Trump’s posts on X platform. Mr. Trump, who holds a sixty percent share in the parent company of Truth Social, will be eligible to sell his shares starting from the 19th of September. This date marks the end of the six-month lockout duration that applies to all insiders within the corporation, as specified by a company solicitor.
Before the release of his campaign video on the same Monday, Mr. Trump had only made one post on X following his reinstatement. His previous post featured his 2023 mug shot arising from his booking in Georgia on allegations related to racketeering and his attempts to dispute his loss in the election.
The recent months have witnessed the development of a close relationship between Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump, commonly involving conversations about politics. Shortly following an assassination attempt against Mr. Trump last month, Mr. Musk publicly backed the prior president, a decision made only half an hour after the incident. Not just Mr. Trump, Mr. Musk also supports the latter’s political partner, JD Vance, a senator.
This piece was originally published in The New York Times and belongs to The New York Times Company, 2024.