Tesla CEO and possibly the soon-to-be owner of Twitter, Elon Musk, said on Tuesday that the social media platform’s decision to ban Trump was a “morally bad” one, noting that he’d reverse the decision when he’s in charge.
“I do think that it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” said Musk speaking remotely at the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal. “I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the county, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
“I would reverse the permaban,” he continued.
Trump has still been able to disseminate his views via press releases and his own social platform, Truth Social. However, data has shown that since Trump has been banned on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, users do talk about Trump on those platforms a lot less.
The billionaire, who also founded SpaceX, spoke more about Twitter bans and suspensions at the event. Musk seems to be fine with consequences for breaking platform policy, but only on a temporary basis. He spoke strongly against permanent bans, such as the one Twitter doled out to Trump as a result of the former president’s rhetoric on Jan. 6.
“We should not have permabans,” argued Musk. “That doesn’t mean that somebody gets to say whatever they want to say. If they say something that is illegal or destructive to the world then there should be perhaps a timeout, a temporary suspension, or that particular tweet should be made invisible or have very limited traction.”
According to Musk, Twitter founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey also shares his view on permanent bans, saying it “fundamentally undermines trust in Twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion.”
Musk also noted that he does not yet own Twitter, so reinstating Trump “is not a thing that will definitely happen?”
It may sound like Musk is intent on reinstating Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the 45th President of the United States would come back to the service. In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump claimed he had no plans to start tweeting again, even if Musk’s ownership meant he’d get his account back. According to Trump, he is intent on remaining exclusively on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
However, whether Trump is telling the, well, truth is anyone’s guess. The now-banned former-Twitter-power-user did recently lose his lawsuit against Twitter, in an attempt to get his account reinstated on the platform.
If Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter does indeed go through, Trump will no longer have to resort to legal action. It seems like Musk will just simply bring him back onboard. And that might be too attractive of an offer for Trump to turn down.