Elon Musk said Tuesday that he will reverse Twitter’s permanent ban on former President Donald Trump.
Musk, who purchased Twitter last month for $44 billion, said at FT Live’s Future of the Car conference that it was “not correct to ban Donald Trump.”
“I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the county, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” Musk said, adding that the decision was “morally bad.”
“That doesn’t mean that someone gets to say whatever they want to say,” 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.”
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” Musk added.
Once Musk’s purchase of Twitter is finalized he is expected to serve as the company’s CEO for a period of time.
.@elonmusk says he would reverse President Trump's permanent ban on Twitter if the deal finalizes pic.twitter.com/QZfwREYAAZ
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) May 10, 2022
Musk indicated that action could be taken against an account if there were tweets that violated platform policy, which he said, “should be either deleted or made invisible, and a suspension—a temporary suspension—is appropriate, but not a permanent ban.”
Musk said that permanent bans “should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts.”
Trump stated last month that he won’t be going back on Twitter because of how he was treated by the platform and because he says that platform was “boring.”
“No, I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump said. “I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He’s an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter.”
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This report has been updated to include additional information.