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Comment by tootie | Hacker News Reader

I think it would spur a revolt. Too many users were begging for it. This would confirm their worst fears about what Musk wants for the platform and take it as a sign to leave. Related note, Truth Social (Trump's semi-abandoned competitor) is rumored to be merging with Rumble. Rumble being a more established social network with Trump-friendly content. Trump going back to Twitter would also mean he admits defeat on his attempt to defeat it.

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Maybe, but I kind of doubt it. Trump is a black hole of attention. He warps the discourse around himself. If he's on Twitter, people have to go there to find out what he says. Moreover, Musk is a bit more immune to public outcry on the Trump axis than previous owners, in my opinion. It doesn't seem hard to brand it as a triumphant return, and distance himself from Truth Social. His fans will happily eat that up, the people who hated him will keep hating him, and Musk will enjoy making people mad. He's coming back for sure, if only because it's going to juice Twitter's numbers.

There's no leaving Twitter, in my opinion. Its the only game in town. That said, I sincerely hope there is a fracture here. An ecosystem with many smaller platforms seems far healthier to me.

I'm not sure. For one, it's not Musk whose reputation is on the line, it's Twitter. Secondly I think their position isn't as strong as it seems. They own a few niches but don't have nearly the same stickiness that FB/Insta/TikTok have right now. Competitors are going to smell blood and try to steal their market share the first chance they get.

My conspiracy theory is that Musk is buying Twitter mainly so he can extort Trump for something in exchange for readmitting him. Like telling his base to buy Teslas.

> My conspiracy theory is that Musk is buying Twitter mainly so he can extort Trump for something in exchange for readmitting him. Like telling his base to buy Teslas.

I don't think it will be that obvious/simple. Tax breaks, anti-union laws, incentives to build new plants in red states... or something even smaller will be all it takes.

> Trump going back to Twitter would also mean he admits defeat on his attempt to defeat it.

Trump has only ever posted a single time on Truth Social, a generic coming soon message, and it probably wasn't even him. He doesn't give a shit about it. He doesn't even know its name, apparently: https://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-trump-struggling... It's best to think of Trump's role with Truth Social as a disinterested mascot. Even your basic paid shill would be doing a much better job of promoting/using it.

Trump loves Twitter, and would be back on it in a flash if allowed to do so.

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