Musk's Takeover of Twitter Brings Levin and Carlson Back to Platform
Conservative commentator Mark Levin returned to Twitter Monday, citing the takeover of the platform by billionaire Elon Musk.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson also announced his return to Twitter.
“Thanks to new ownership, I’ve decided to come back!” Levin tweeted.
Thanks to new ownership, I’ve decided to come back! ?
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 25, 2022
The tweet drew over 215,000 likes and over 16,000 retweets.
The Director Blue blog, which curates what it judges to be the top tweets of the day, ranked Levin’s No. 1.
#1 on Top Tweet of the day! Go Levinites!https://t.co/RLdh0St73k
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 25, 2022
Levin also shared a Newsmax story about his return to Twitter, writing to his over 2.5 million followers, “Hello fellow Levinites!”
Hello fellow Levinites!https://t.co/ejUhfBwS7R
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 26, 2022
The Fox News host removed himself from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021, after the platform banned then-President Donald Trump following the Capitol incursion.
The social media company claimed his tweets threatened a “further incitement of violence.”
“I have suspended my own Twitter account in protest against Twitter’s fascism,” Levin tweeted at the time.
Many welcomed the conservative firebrand’s return to Twitter, including GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Thanks Brother Ted! https://t.co/Ab8UKIglDN
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 25, 2022
Trump told Fox News Monday — ahead of Twitter’s sale to Musk being finalized — that he does not plan to return to the social media site. Rather, he will stay exclusively on his own platform TRUTH Social.
“I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on TRUTH,” he said.
“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,” Trump added.
The 45th president said that he will begin “TRUTHing” over the next week.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson also returned to Twitter on Monday, after being suspended in March for endorsing a tweet by the Babylon Bee and another by Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, regarding U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine, Fox Business reported.
The Babylon Bee, a satire site, named Levine, who identifies as a transgender woman, as its “Man of the Year” for 2022.
Kirk had tweeted that Levine spent “54 years of his life as a man.”
Twitter banned both the Babylon Bee and Kirk for “hateful conduct.”
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“But wait. Both these tweets are true,” Carlson wrote in response to Twitter’s suspension of the two accounts, with a screenshot of the tweets the company judged in violation of its rules.
On Monday, Carlson tweeted, “We’re back,” which drew over 340,000 likes and over 34,000 retweets.
We’re back.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 25, 2022
After the Twitter deal was finalized, Musk tweeted Monday, ““Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he planned to make the algorithms open source “to increase trust” in the platform.
??♥️ Yesss!!! ♥️?? pic.twitter.com/0T9HzUHuh6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 25, 2022
“Twitter has tremendous potential,” Musk wrote.
“I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”
