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Elon Musk Says He Would Reverse Twitter’s Permanent Trump Ban

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Elon Musk, whose bid to purchase Twitter has been approved by its board of directors, just set the Internet on proverbial fire with his thoughts on the permanent ban of former President Donald Trump.

The billionaire CEO of Tesla, Space X and Starlink said that he would reinstate the former president on the platform if he does ultimately own the company, The Financial Times reported.

He said that the ban “was morally wrong and flat out stupid.”

“Are you planning to let Donald Trump back on?” the reporter said, calling it the “toupeed elephant in the room.”

“I’ve talked with (former Twitter CEO) 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 and spam, scam accounts,” he said.

“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. He is now going to be on Truth Social as will a large part of the, sort of the right in the United States. And so I think this can end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate.

“I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permanent ban, obviously I don’t own Twitter yet so this is not a thing that will definitely happen because what if I don’t own Twitter? But my opinion – is that we should not have permanent bans,” he said.

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“That doesn’t mean that somebody gets to say whatever they want to say. If they say something that is illegal or otherwise 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.

“But I think perm bans just fundamentally undermine trust in twitter as a town square where everyone can voice their opinion.

“I think it was a morally bad decision to be clear, and foolish in the extreme,” he said.

The interviewer pressed, accusing Trump of “egging on” the January 6 rioters.

“I think if there are tweets that are wrong and bad those should be either deleted or made invisible and a suspension, a temporary suspension is appropriate but not a permanent ban.

The interviewer asked again if he would be back on.

“He has publicly stated that he will not be coming back to Twitter and that he will only be on Truth Social,” he said.

“And this is the point that I’m trying to make … is that banning Trump from Twitter did not end Trump’s voice. It will amplify it among the right and this is why it is morally wrong a flat out stupid,” he said.

During an interview with Fox News, Trump made it clear he doesn’t plan on returning to Twitter and instead plans to use his own TRUTH Social as the sole platform for his voice.

The 45th president told Fox News that he will formally join his own TRUTH Social over the next week.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH,” Trump said. “I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH.”

“We’re taking in millions of people, and what we’re finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter,” Trump said. “Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can.”

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He added: “The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter.”

When asked if Musk taking over Twitter could be competition to TRUTH, Trump said he believes it will be good overall for social media.

“I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better,” Trump said. “But no, I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing.”

“This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters,” Trump said. “But I want everybody to come over to TRUTH—conservatives, liberals, whatever.”

Trump said Twitter “became very boring because conservatives were thrown off or got off the platform when I left.”

“It became boring because there was no interaction,” Trump said. “The interaction on TRUTH has been amazing.”

He added: “We want everybody.”

“TRUTH Social will be a voice for me,” Trump continued. “And that’s something nobody else can get.”

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