Former US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will not return to social media platform Twitter even if his account is reinstated following the platform's purchase by billionaire Elon Musk, Reuters reports.
Trump was quoted as having told Fox News that he will formally join his own Truth Social startup over the next seven days.
"I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on Truth," said the former President.
Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, officially launched in February, 13 months after Trump was banned from prominent social media networks following the riots on the US Capitol.
In addition to Twitter, Facebook also banned Trump from its platform in the wake of the riots on the US Capitol on January 6 and then referred its decision to the independent Oversight Board, a panel of experts and civic leaders from around the world that was established last year.
The Oversight Board later upheld the suspension of Trump, but also said Facebook should determine a "proportionate response" that is consistent with rules applied to other users of the platform.
Trump’s statement came hours after Twitter's board of directors approved the sale of the company to Musk for $44 billion.
Musk, Tesla's CEO and the richest man in the world, bought a 9% stake in Twitter earlier this month and almost joined the board, but eventually decided not to do so. If he had joined it would have limited the amount of shares he could hold in the company.