Elon Musk will reverse Donald Trump’s Twitter ban (Brian Lawless/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)Elon Musk has said he would reverse Twitter’s decision to ban former US president Donald Trump, describing the move as “morally wrong and outright stupid”.
Speaking virtually at the Financial Times Future of the Car Summit on Tuesday, the billionaire and prospective owner of the social media platform branded the decision a “mistake”.
Twitter banned Mr Trump in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riots last year. He was accused of spreading misinformation and stoking unrest through his use of the platform after losing the election to Joe Biden.
Mr Musk formally acquired Twitter earlier this month with a $44 billion financing package involving some of the world’s wealthiest investors. However, financial markets remain uncertain over whether the takeover will go ahead at the agreed price.
“I would reverse the ban — but I don’t own Twitter yet,” Mr Musk said, adding that it had “alienated a large part of the country”.
“It doesn’t end Trump’s voice. It will amplify it among the right,” he said. “That’s why it’s morally wrong and outright stupid.”
However, he pointed out that he does not own Twitter yet, adding: “This is not a thing that will definitely happen because what if I don’t own Twitter?”
Mr Musk said tweets which are illegal or “destructive” should be deleted or made invisible, but accounts must not banned permanently.
He said: “I think there’s a general question of should Twitter have permanent bans? I’ve talked with Jack Dorsey about this and he and I are of the same mind which is that permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots or spam scam accounts.”
Elsewhere, Mr Musk pledged to tackle what he claimed was a “far left” liberal bias at Twitter, saying this “fails to build trust” in the US and in other parts of the world.
He also spoke of wanting to build trust with users of the platform by showing them “how the algorithm works” and allowing them to “suggest changes”.
