Former U.S. President Donald Trump returned to his personal account on the social media platform "X" on Thursday, posting a picture of himself from his booking at the Fulton County Jail in Georgia earlier on Thursday. The post, which calls for donations, marks his first direct communication with the public on the platform that banned him following the attack by his supporters on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
On November 19, the platform changed its stance under billionaire Elon Musk, who describes himself as a "free speech advocate" and acquired Twitter on October 2. Trump, who had over 88 million followers before his ban, posted a picture on Thursday with the phrase "Interfere in the elections! Never give up!". Twitter suspended Trump's account in January 2021, citing the risk of further incitement to violence following the Capitol breach. He had used Twitter and other social media platforms to claim that his defeat in the 2020 election was due to widespread voter fraud and to share other conspiracy theories.
