Former President Donald Trump has claimed he won't return to Twitter - even after Elon Musk has bought the social media platform.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that he would be using his own platform TRUTH social to share his thoughts instead.
His announcement comes just hours after Twitter released the news it is accepting Musk's $44 billion bid to buy the company.
While he seemed pleased that the Tesla boss was acquiring his once-favored social media channel, Trump made it very clear that he would not be persuaded to rejoin the platform.
"I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH," he told Fox News, adding: "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."
He went on to say that he will be formally joining TRUTH Social over the next week as he had planned, where he'll begin "TRUTHing" for his followers.
Since formally launching last month, the Trump Media & Technology Group platform has now been up and running for four days, according to Fox News.
The former president spoke about the benefits of his platform over Twitter, saying: "We’re taking in millions of people, and what we’re finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter. Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can."
He added that Twitter "became very boring because conservatives were thrown off or got off the platform when I left," before explaining: "It became boring because there was no interaction."
Following the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter as well as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, which deemed much of his online activity as inflammatory.
Although he was once extremely active on the platform, Trump was adamant, saying: "The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter."
Meanwhile, he maintained that TRUTH Social will not be in direct competition with Musk's Twitter, saying: "I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing."
"This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters," he added.
