Elon Musk asks Twitter users to vote to end Donald Trump's ban on the social media site

Elon Musk has launched a Twitter poll allowing users to vote for former US President Donald Trump to join the social media site after his 2020 suspension< /p> So far, more than 12 million people have voted in the Twitter poll (

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Donald Trump may return to Twitter after its new owner Elon Musk asked users to vote on lifting the ban on the former US president.

Mr. Musk, a "free speech absolutist", popped the question in a Twitter poll posted yesterday. Any registered user can click on buttons to vote "yes" or "no" to reinstate Mr. Trump.

He added the message "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" using Latin for "the voice of the people is the voice of God" - an expression associated with supporters of direct democracy.

Last night, out of 12 million votes cast, approximately 53% said yes and 47% voted no.

Mr. Musk is the world's richest man with a fortune of £165billion after founding Paypal and Tesla. He bought Twitter last month for £37 billion.

Mr. Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter by its founder Jack Dorsey (

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He said last night that more than a million people an hour were voting on Trump's question, with the poll set to run until the early hours of today. Mr Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter by its founder Jack Dorsey in 2020 after he was accused of using it to incite a violent mob to storm the US Capitol, killing five and injuring hundreds.

It's unclear whether Mr. Musk will respect the poll's result. He said on Friday that a final decision on Mr. Trump's account had yet to be made.