Tucker Carlson returns to Twitter in response to Elon Musk takeover

‘We’re back,’ says Carlson in a Monday evening tweet

Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Mark Levin have announced their return to Twitter just hours after news emerged of the social media giant’s sale to Tesla chief executive Elon Musk.

Twitter on Monday announced the social media company will be sold to Mr Musk for around $44bn.

The company’s board announced it had reached a deal with Mr Musk on the same day and that it represented a 38 per cent premium from Twitter’s closing price on 1 April, the day before the world’s richest person made his move for the company by announcing his 9 per cent stake.

Twitter’s change of ownership prompted the Fox News hosts’ return to the platform.

“We’re back,” said Carlson in a tweet on Monday evening.

The anchor was suspended from Twitter after he endorsed tweets by The Babylon Bee, a conservative Christian news satire website and from Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk.

Both had misgendered US assistant health secretary Rachel Levine. The Babylon Bee had intentionally referred to transgender White House official Dr Levine as the site’s “Man of the Year for 2022”.

The website was locked out of its account on 20 March after Twitter said it had violated rules relating to “hateful conduct” over the “Man of the Year” joke.

Mr Kirk had said in his tweet that Dr Levine had spent “54 years of his life as a man.”

Carlson had posted screenshots of the tweets from Babylon Bee and Mr Kirk on Twitter and said: “But wait. Both these tweets are true.”

Along with Carlson, conservative political commentator and Fox News host Levin also announced he was returning to the platform.

“Thanks to new ownership, I’ve decided to come back!” he said in a tweet.

Levin had left Twitter last January “in protest against Twitter’s fascism” after former president Donald Trump was banned from the social media platform in connection with the Capitol Hill riot.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Musk had urged his “worst critics” to stay on Twitter, before it was announced he had reached agreement to buy it.

“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,” he said later in the company statement.