Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk would lift the ban on the Twitter account of former President Donald Trump once he completes his acquisition of the social media company.
During a virtual interview on FT Live’s Future of the Car Conference, Musk said Twitter made a “mistake” banning the former president. He cited the reason that its action “alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” said Musk and 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?”
Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account on its platform after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Its decision was “due to the risk of further incitement of violence” by the former president, who had 80 million followers on the social media platform.
Musk also stated that Twitter “should not have permanent bans.” He believes that such action “fundamentally undermines trust” in the social media company. He prefers temporary suspensions and other tailored sanctions on users who post contents that are “illegal” or “destructive to the world.”
