New York: Tesla’s chief executive Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former U.S. President Donald Trump, while speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference.
On Tuesday, Musk that he and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey believe permanent bans should be “extremely rare” and reserved for accounts that operate bots or spread spam.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At the time, Twitter banned Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” in the wake of the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Pushed specifically on the logic behind Trump’s ban, Musk said it still didn’t justify a permanent ban.
“I think permabans fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion,” he said. “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.”
The ban didn’t serve to “end Trump’s voice,” he said. “It amplified it among the right. And this is why it’s morally wrong and flat out stupid.”
Musk has repeatedly referred to Twitter as “the de facto public town square” of the modern era — the digital equivalent of a public forum. To that end, he’s been critical of Twitter’s decision to permanently ban Trump from the site many times before.
