Twitter users shocked to discover that they are following Trump after he was reinstated

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has already made a few shocking decisions since taking ownership of Twitter late last month (such as firing thousands of employees and then giving remaining staff a “hardcore” ultimatum), but reinstating the account of ex-president Donald Trump takes the proverbial biscuit – and you might be following him without even knowing it.

It comes after Musk decided to let existing Twitter users vote on whether Trump – who was banned from the social media platform in January last year following the violent Capitol insurrection – should have his account reinstated.

Over 15 million accounts voted in the poll, with the final results echoing the cursed 52/48 Brexit split in favour of the controversial Republican getting his account back.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei” Musk tweeted on Sunday, with the Latin phrase translating to ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’.

A bit awkward then that Trump seems perfectly content with being on his own social media platform, Truth Social, with the former Apprentice star sharing a screengrab of Musk’s poll and adding: “Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!”

However, even if Trump doesn’t intend to budge on which social networks he uses, his ‘return’ to Twitter is, of course, causing quite the stir online. Since Trump came back to the platform, some accounts have claimed they were suddenly following his account despite never once clicking follow before his suspension.

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Barrister Adam Wagner tweeted: “I am sure I was not following Trump and now I am. I made a decision to unfollow him before he was banned and checked that was still the case when he was reinstated.”

Author Stephanie Winston Wolkoff added: “I do NOT and would NOT follow Donald J Trump but ‘someone’ [arrow emoji] @elonmusk automatically added him to my following. See if you’re now following him too.”

“Why are people following Trump who never followed him before? This is very sinister,” another account noted.

Musk is yet to comment on the reports, and has instead shared a NSFW meme which appears to suggest he thinks Trump will soon be tempted back onto Twitter.

“And lead us not into temptation,” he tweeted.

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