New Delhi: A fake statement attributed to former US president Donald Trump is doing the rounds where he was said to be congratulating billionaire Elon Musk on his Twitter takeover while declaring his return to Twitter. "...I have been told that my account will be back up and running on Monday - we will see," the statement posted by news agency ANI mentioned.
Soon after it was clarified that the statement was fake. "Tweet retracted. No statement from Donald Trump on Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been released. This was a fake statement circulating. Error regretted," ANI tweeted.
This comes amid speculation of Trump's return to Twitter as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is reported to have taken charge of the microblogging site Twitter.
CNN reported sources as saying that Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal are said to have left the company’s San Francisco headquarters as the report said that CEO Elon Musk has taken over the company.
The CEO and CFO will not be returning, CNN told sources as saying.
Notably, Donald Trump's Twitter account was suspended after the Capitol Hill riot in 2021 as he was accused of instigating the crowd who charged at Capitol Hill with his allegations of election fraud after he lost the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden.
Musk has time again expressed his views against censorship and it will be seen whether Trump is able to return to the microblogging platform in the near future.
Musk's Messy Twitter Takeover
In April, Twitter accepted the billionaire Tesla CEO's proposal to buy the social media service and take it private. However, Musk then pulled out of the deal accusing Twitter of failing to adequately disclose the number of spam and fake accounts.
When Musk said he was terminating the deal, Twitter sued the billionaire saying that he “refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests.”
Twitter and Musk traded allegations through their attorneys in the ensuing months as the two parties were headed to Delaware’s Court of Chancery to determine the fate of the company and whether it would end up with Musk.
In October, Musk had a change of heart as he once again showed interest in pursuing his acquisition at the original price of $54.20 a share if the social messaging service dropped its litigation. According to CNN, Twitter’s lawyers responded to it by saying that the Tesla CEO’s “proposal is an invitation to further mischief and delay.”
Finally, a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled that Musk had until October 28 to complete the Twitter deal or head to trial.