Twitter really wants you to know that things will be fine after former President Donald Trump was banned from the platform in January.
In Tuesday’s earnings report, the company made a unique revelation about its user growth in the current quarter, saying it saw above-average growth throughout the month despite “ unusual circumstances ”.
While Twitter didn’t explicitly say what those “unusual circumstances” were, it’s not hard to find out. Twitter permanently banned Trump on Jan. 8 after continuing to post messages encouraging and defending the uprising in the Capitol on Jan. 6. The company also permanently banned thousands of accounts connected to the Qanon movement around the same time.
Twitter shares were up a whopping 13% from Wednesday morning.
Twitter’s Trump and Qanon banned fears that the company’s fate was tied to Trump and his followers and that the bans would harm future growth. But the company went the extra mile on Tuesday to show that Trump wasn’t the only major power user on the platform.
“We are a platform that is clearly much bigger than any topic or account,” said Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, on the company’s earnings call on Tuesday.
He also pointed out the dozens of accounts that have millions of followers and that 80% of all users are located outside the US
“We have a global service. We also don’t rely solely on news and politics to drive Twitter,” said Dorsey.
As for Trump returning to Twitter one day, the company’s CFO Ned Segal made it clear on Wednesday that that’s not an option. Segal told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday that Trump should never return to the site, even if he decides to run for re-election.