Elon Musk confirmed that former President Trump’s Twitter ban will be reversed once he officially assumes control of the platform. Trump, who was still the sitting president at the time of his removal from the platform, was banned shortly after the January 6 Capitol protests. Musk’s confirmation confirms a string of reports claiming that the Tesla CEO views the ban as an outrage.
“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 Tuesday during an interview with Financial Times. “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.”
The Tesla CEO went on to add that he would reinstate the ban once he assumes full control. Twitter’s board recently accepted Musk’s 44-billion-dollar offer to buy the company, but the transition process will take some time.
Trump was banned from multiple platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, following the January 6 election protests. The former president has praised Musk’s Twitter acquisition as a positive development, though he has said that he will exclusively use Truth Social.
In reference to Trump’s new social media venture, Musk suggested a name change. “Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech,” Musk tweeted last week. “Should be called Trumpet instead!”
Former CEO Jack Dorsey has said that he was initially opposed to banning Trump from Twitter, but later decided that he was in “violation” of the platform’s terms of service. He ultimately came around to the idea after agreeing that Trump “incited violence” on January 6. Musk and Dorsey strongly disagreed on Trump’s removal, according to the interview.
Dorsey has endorsed Musk’s Twitter and believes he can provide a “singular solution” for the company, according to The New York Post.
