Musk says he would reverse Twitter ban on Donald Trump after deal closes
‘I would reverse the permanent ban,’ Elon Musk said
Twitter permanently banned Trump following January 6 US Capitol riot
Elon Musk on Tuesday said he would reverse Twitter Inc’s (NYSE: TWTR) ban on former US President Donald Trump if his proposed acquisition deal goes through.
“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 at Financial Time’s Future of the Car conference.
“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.”
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” said the billionaire, who is expected to become the interim CEO of the microblogging platform following the takeover.
“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, an avid tweeter who had more than 80 million followers, from the platform in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol, citing the risk of “further incitement of violence.”
After Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) boss announced his plan to take over Twitter and make it a free speech platform, questions arose about whether he would invite Trump back to Twitter.
However, last month in an interview with CNBC, Trump said that he wouldn’t return to the social media platform if he were given a chance.
“I will be on Truth Social within the week. It’s on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He’s an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump said.
Trump launched Truth Social following the ban, which he promoted as a free-speech alternative to Big Tech platforms.
Moreover, CNBC earlier reported White House officials and Democratic strategists had expressed concerns about Musk’s Twitter takeover, which would reverse the ban on Trump and other Republicans, ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Picture Credit: The Guardian
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