Trump was removed from Twitter and other large social media platforms after the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021
Elon Musk said he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former president Donald Trump once he officially takes over the social media platform.
The Tesla tycoon, whose $44 billion takeover bid was accepted by Twitter’s board of directors last month, made the comment on Tuesday during an interview with the Financial Times, reports NY Post.
Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts. I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, Musk said.
I think that was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice, he said.
I would reverse the permanent ban, Musk added. I don’t own Twitter yet. So this is not like a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter?
Trump was removed from Twitter and other large social media platforms after the events at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The then-president was accused of inciting his supporters to riot at the Capitol while Congress was in session to officially certify President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Musk’s statement on Tuesday is confirmation of earlier reports that he vehemently opposed Twitter’s decision to bar the 45th president from its platform.
Jared Birchall, Musk’s top assistant, who has been described as the ‘point man’ for the Tesla CEO’s $44 billion takeover bid of Twitter, told an associate that the idea of banning a sitting president from Twitter was ‘insane,’ according to The Wall Street Journal.
Musk reportedly ‘remains dismayed’ that Trump is still not permitted to tweet, according to the paper, which cited unnamed sources close to the situation.
Trump supporters have been energised by the prospect of Musk taking control of Twitter and overhauling its content moderation policy.
Trump, for his part, has vowed not to return to Twitter, instead touting his own social media platform, Truth Social.
Twitter’s decision to ban Trump was a key point of disagreement between Musk and then-CEO Jack Dorsey.
Dorsey was initially opposed to removing Trump from Twitter, but came around to the idea after reaching the conclusion that the former president violated the service’s terms of usage, according to the Journal.
Nonetheless, Dorsey and Musk remained on friendly terms and maintained a dialogue, according to the paper.