Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday that he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former US President Donald Trump. The billionaire businessman, who has called himself a “free speech absolutist”, made the statement while taking part in a Financial Times conference on the future of the automobile. Musk has launched a $44 billion takeover offer to acquire the social network.
The banning of Trump’s account, which had more than 88 million followers, silenced the former US president’s main megaphone days before the end of his term. Trump was permanently suspended from the platform shortly after the January 6 riots at the US Capitol. Twitter justified his decision by warning of the “risk of further incitement to violence.”
“I would reverse the decision, but I don’t own Twitter yet,” Musk said. “It was not right to ban Donald Trump; I think it was a mistake,” the Tesla chief executive continued. The decision “alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Trump having no voice. It amplified it among people on the political right,” continued Musk, who has called the ban “morally wrong and downright stupid.”
Musk has reiterated his position against permanent bans, a decision he says undermines users’ trust in Twitter. “If there are tweets that are wrong and bad they should be deleted or invisible,” he remarked. “A suspension is appropriate, but not a permanent ban.
Trump previously told Fox News that he would not return to Twitter even if Musk buys the platform and reinstates his account, saying he would use his own social media app called Truth Social, which launched in the Apple app store late last year. February, but it was buggy until recently when it started letting in more users, Reuters reports.
The Tesla founder also said it would be important to reduce Twitter’s “left bias” to build trust. “They just come from an environment that is very far to the left. But it fails to build trust with the rest of the US and maybe other parts of the world,” the FT reports.
Musk’s words They fear that if they manage to close the purchase of Twitter, it will act against the content moderation policies with which the social network tries to combat hate content and the disinformation.
