Republicans Call on Elon Musk to Reinstate Donald Trump's Twitter Account After Tesla CEO Becomes Largest Shareholder

Republicans on Monday asked Elon Musk to reinstate former President Donald Trump's Twitter account after the Tesla CEO became the biggest stakeholder in the social media platform.

Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene was among the Republican officials who asked Musk if he could return the freedom of speech to Twitter, the Independent reported.

"It will require courage [because] the regime is heavily investing in a certain industry, and threats will undoubtedly come. Yet the freedom of speech restored will enable us all to defeat them," Greene added.

Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert also urged the Tesla CEO to lift the political censorship and bring back Trump into the social media platform.

The former Treasury Department's assistant secretary for public affairs, Monica Crowley, also seconded Boebert's appeal.

On the other hand, conservative activist Ned Ryun noted that it would be "epic" if Elon Musk would force Twitter to lift Trump's ban.

"Although, to be honest, Trump might not want to. Would dilute his value and power with Truth Social," Ryun added.

Twitter Bans Donald Trump

Twitter permanently suspended the account of Donald Trump early last year following the January 6 Capitol riot.

Earlier, a Twitter senior executive said their policies were designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence and applied to everyone, even to a former public official.

Aside from Twitter, the former president was also banned from Facebook and YouTube, which claimed that Trump might "incite violence" in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.

Donald Trump will be banned from Facebook until January 2023, while the YouTube ban is indefinite.

Last year, the former president sought the help of a judge from Florida to retrieve his Twitter account, arguing that not granting him the injunction would cause "irreparable harm" to his 88 million followers.

Trump has also launched his social media app called "Truth Social" last February. The Independent reported that Trump encouraged those who followed him on Twitter to join his social media app.

However, some users claimed that there were several problems with the app, including the signing up process. According to Reuters, two executives of Trump's social media app quit on Monday, following a difficult start on the said platform. As of Monday morning, Donald Trump had 827,000 followers.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Is Twitter's Biggest Shareholder

The appeal of the Republican officials came after Elon Musk became the largest shareholder in Twitter on Monday. According to the Securities Exchange Commission, the Tesla CEO owns 74,486,938 Twitter shares. Furthermore, Musk's stake in the company is worth $2.89 billion as of Friday.

According to PBS, Musk acquired a 9 percent stake in Twitter at a time when he was questioning the social media platform's dedication to free speech and the First Amendment.

Erik Gordon, a law and business professor at the University of Michigan, said no CEO would refuse to take a call from a company's top shareholder.

Elon Musk has yet to address the milestone of becoming Twitter's top shareholder. He only asked his followers if they would like to have an edit button on the app.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Elon Musk Buys 9.2% Stake In Twitter; Becomes Social Media Giant's Largest Outside Shareholder - From KPIX CBS SF Bay Area