Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated Tuesday at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference that he would lift Twitter’s ban on former US President Donald Trump.
Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has agreed to buy the social networking platform for $44 billion. The move to ban Trump from Twitter did not mute his voice, but rather magnified his ideas among those on the political right, according to Musk, who called the ban “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter immediately after the violence on the US Capitol on January 6. In making its judgment, Twitter cited “the potential of future instigation of violence.”
Musk is supported by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. This is surprising given that Dorsey was the company’s CEO when Trump’s Twitter account was permanently suspended last year.
it was a business decision, it shouldn't have been. and we should always revisit our decisions and evolve as necessary. I stated in that thread and still believe that permanent bans of individuals are directionally wrong.
— jack (@jack) May 10, 2022
Dorsey responded to a Twitter user by saying that blocking Trump’s Twitter account was a “business decision” that “shouldn’t have been.” Dorsey also advised that Twitter “revisit” their choice and “evolve as necessary.”
He further stated that a permanent ban should only be imposed if someone is involved in “CSE, unlawful behavior, spam, or network manipulation, etc.”
Mr. Trump’s account was suspended for 12 hours after he hailed those who stormed the US Capitol “patriots.”
Hundreds of his supporters descended on the building as the US Congress attempted to confirm Joe Biden’s presidential election victory. Four civilians and a police officer were killed in the ensuing fighting. Twitter had previously warned that if Mr. Trump violated the platform’s rules again, he would be banned “permanently.”
Mr. Trump returned to Twitter on Friday and wrote two posts that the company characterized as the final straw. According to Twitter, this was “taken as further indication that the election was not legal” by a lot of his fans.
Following Twitter’s ban on his @realDonaldTrump account, Mr Trump tweeted using the US president’s official @Potus account, saying he will “look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the future” and ranting about Twitter.
However, the tweets were immediately removed from the platform.
