Trump's Twitter account has not been restored after Elon Musk's takeover

A screenshot of a tweet, purported to be of former US president Donald Trump, is being shared on social media with the claim that Trump's Twitter account has been restored. The tweet reads, "Thank you, @elonmusk! Feels great to be back. Hope all the haters and losers have missed me!"

The claim comes with Tesla CEO Elon Musk closing his 44-billion-dollar deal to buy Twitter. After taking over, Mr. Musk fired top executives of Twitter, including the CEO Parag Agarwal.

Trump's account was permanently suspended on 8 January 2021 after he had described his supporters as "American patriots" who had stormed Capitol Hill.

A Facebook user shared the screenshot and wrote, "Trump is back on Twitter."

Click here to see the post.

Fact Check

NewsMeter noticed that the viral screenshot of the verified handle used Trump's photo and name but the handle username reads '@TheUltGmr.' According to twitter's blog post, Trump's suspended handle had the user name '@realDonaldTrump.'

Further, we searched for the account '@TheUltGmr' and found that the account is no more using Trump's photo. However, the verified handle has not deleted the viral tweet thanking musk. (Archive)

Moreover, the account has also declared in the bio that they do "little trolling" and that it is a "parody account."

Moving forward, we searched for the archive of the account and found on 8 September, the account was functional with the name "UR2SLOW."

On 28 October, Mr. Musk in a tweet announced that a content moderation council will decide on account restoration and content decisions. And no decision will be taken before this council convenes.

It is evident that the account impersonating Donald Trump's handle is a parody account. Hence, the claim that Trump's account has been restored is false.