The incoming Twitter executive says he thinks the ban was unfair.
QUICK FACTS:
- In an interview with the Financial Times, the Tesla CEO said he plans to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account if his takeover is successful.
- Musk said that he wants a permanent punishment to be for “spam” and/or “scam” accounts and that even illegal behavior will likely only result in a short-term suspension.
- The SpaceX CEO went on to call Trump’s ban from Twitter a “morally bad decision” and said was “foolish in the extreme.”
MUSK’S STATEMENTS ABOUT TRUMP’S BAN:
- “It was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk said. “I think that was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country. I would reverse the Twitter ban. Obviously, I don’t own Twitter yet, so this is not a thing that will definitely happen.”
- “He’s now going to be on Truth Social, as will a large part of the right in the United States. So, I think this could end up being, frankly, worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate.”
- On the issue of suspensions, Musk said, “If they say something that is illegal or destructive to the world, then there should be perhaps a timeout, temporary suspension or that particular tweet should be made invisible or have very little traction.”
BACKGROUND:
- Twitter accepted Musk’s offer to buy the platform at $54.20 per share, for a total of approximately $44 billion in April of this year, though the deal is still in process.
- Musk has pushed himself as a “free speech absolutist” and made public several details of a plan to make the social media platform one of the freest on the market today.
- However, Musk’s publically shared ideology for his new purchase has caused outrage from some of his peers, including Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post.
