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SpaceX and Tesla owner Elon Musk said Tuesday that he intends to reverse Twitter’s permanent suspension of former President Donald Trump once the company’s full buyout is complete, as it was a “morally wrong” and “flat-out stupid” decision.
While speaking to The Financial Times during the Future of the Car event, Musk was asked about his possible role in Twitter and the changes he would bring to the social network. One of the questions in this regard was whether he would allow Trump to use his account again.
Musk argued that one of the things he agrees with the platform’s founder, Jack Dorsey, is that there should be no such thing as a permanent block, except when it comes to bots, scam, spam or when there is “no legitimacy to the account at all.”
“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, 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,” Musk specified regarding the case of the former Republican president. “He is now going to be on Truth Social, as will a large part of the right in the U.S. I think could end up frankly worse than having a single platform where everyone can debate.”
Musk thinks it was a “foolish” decision
The billionaire insisted that, in his view, it is only acceptable to suspend accounts or make their tweets “invisible” when their content is illegal, and clarified, once again, that he does not agree with banning anyone from accessing their account permanently because doing so “fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion.”
Therefore, Musk believes banning Trump from Twitter was “morally a bad decision and foolish to the extreme,” as he stated.
When the moderator questioned Musk on whether or not Trump’s tweets may or may not have incited violent hordes to storm the Capitol, the billionaire insisted, “I think if there are tweets that are wrong and bad, those should be either deleted or made invisible, and a temporary suspension is appropriate, but not a permanent ban.”
“[Trump] has publicly stated that he will not be coming back to Twitter and that he will only be on Truth Social,” the businessman continued. “And the point that I’m trying to make, which is perhaps not getting accross, is that banning Trump from Twitter didn’t end Trump’s voice. It’ll amplify it among the right, and this is why this is morally wrong and flat out stupid.”
Musk believes that Twitter is “least bad public square” that functions as a forum in which ideas are exchanged both nationally and internationally, but he believes it can be improved to optimize the exchange. For that, he believes that “transparency to build trust” among users is essential.
The South African-born entrepreneur believes that the platform should be more impartial and given that it is located in San Francisco and operates in a largely left-wing environment, “it currently has a strong left bias.”
