False: Donald Trump's Twitter account will be reactivated on October 31.

Context

After more than six months of rocky negotiations, Elon Musk has finally clinched the $44 million deal with social media giant Twitter on October 27. Months before this acquisition, Musk had stated that he would bring former U.S. President Donald Trump back to the platform. Since the acquisition was officially announced, many social media posts claimed that Trump would be back on Twitter by October 31, 2022. One Twitter post had an image of what appears to be Trump's letter from his website saying he would return to Twitter. The tweet reads, "It's OFFICIAL! @realDonaldTrump Twitter Handle will be restored back onto the platform as EARLY as next Week - Monday 31st October 2022!!"

In fact

Twitter handle @altnavigation posted the tweet on Donald Trump on October 28. On analyzing the account, we found that it had become active only from October 21, 2022. The account mostly tweets about Trump and Truth Social— a social media platform created by Trump.

The letterhead included in the image, which appears to be a screenshot of a webpage, tweeted by this account is the same as what Trump posts on his website donaldjtrump.com when sharing information about events he will be a part of. However, when we examined the contents of the website, we did not come across any official letter, press release, or note stating that Trump would be back on Twitter by October 31. The tweeted image seems to be fabricated. 

Moreover, no statements from have been made by Musk, or Twitter stating if or when Trump will return to the platform. 

It is important to note, however, that Musk has advocated restoring Trump’s account on several previous occasions. On May 10, Musk had said at an event hosted by Financial Times that he would reverse the ban. Elon had said, "I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake." When he was asked whether Trump's behavior merited action, he said, generally, "a temporary suspension is appropriate but not a permanent ban." Washington Post had reported. 

Trump's Twitter account was banned on January 8, 2021. As Musk was in talks with Twitter, Trump had told Fox News in April 2022 that will would not return to Twitter even if his account was reinstated. "I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH," Trump had told Fox News. "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”, the former U.S. President had said.

According to various media outlets, on taking over Twitter, Musk reportedly was quick to fire top executives including CEO Parag Aggarwal, finance head Ned Segal, and legal policy head Vijaya Gadde. In October 2021, CNN Business had reported that Gadde had purportedly played a central role in banning Trump on Twitter. Musk and Twitter are yet to make any official statement about the firings. 

"With just 12 days until the midterm elections, a resurrected Trump Twitter account could have electoral implications, giving the former president a megaphone to again challenge election results, blast his opponents, and spread falsehoods," Politico said on October 27. The same uncertainty has also been voiced in several news reports about Musk's Twitter acquisition.

The verdict

Although before finalizing the Twitter deal, Musk had said in May that he would reactivate Trump's account on acquiring the social media giant, he did not specify when he would do that. No official source has confirmed that Trump will return to Twitter on October 31.