Elon Musk, who has recently bought social media platform Twitter, has hinted that former US President Donald Trump’s account on the platform will not be restored before the midterm elections that are scheduled for November 8, 2022.

Although Musk did not mention Trump directly, he said that Twitter will be developing a process to consider bringing people who were banned back on the platform, and suggested that such an enterprise may take some weeks. His exact comments were:  “Twitter will not allow anyone who was de-platformed for violating Twitter rules back on platform until we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks.”

Also Read| Elon Musk may have to answer questions on Twitter from US Congress after midterms

That would mean people banned from the site for violating Twitter’s rules for harassment, violence, or election and COVID-related misinformation will not be able to return before next Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.

The pledge came after Musk, who took control of the social-media site last week after buying it for $44 billion, said in a tweet that he had met with a handful of civil-society leaders “about how Twitter will continue to combat hate & harassment & enforce its election integrity policies.”

Also Read| Twitter reacts to Elon Musk’s $8 blue tick badge announcement

Whether the former President would be allowed back on Twitter has been a raging debate among the platform’s users since Musk acquired the company. A post from Trump that was later proved to be fake, congratulating Musk for his new acquisition, had also been doing the rounds on social media. Trump currently shares his views on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

Twitter and other social media platforms have long been awash with misinformation about voting and elections, as well as the COVID-19 vaccine. The platform is retaining its misinformation labels for the 2022 midterms and attempting to debunk tweets that contain misinformation with links to credible information.