Tesla owner and soon-to-be Twitter’s single shareholder Elon Musk stated in a recent interview (which was held remotely) that he wouldn’t have a problem lifting the ban on former US president Donald Trump’s profile.
The statement came during a livestream for the Financial Times’ “Future of the Car” conference, which was hosted on the publication’s channel on YouTube.
The SpaceX founder was asked directly on the matter and before stating his opinion, he pointed out that he has not yet been officially made the owner of the platform, which means that this change, if it is to happen, will not occur immediately.
After that initial statement, Musk went on to say, in a rather casual manner, that he wouldn’t have any issues reversing the ban on Donald Trump.
“I guess the answer is that I would reverse the permaban,” said the billionaire, pointing towards the opinion he has already shared that there should be no bans on the platform and that everyone should be given the right to free speech. An opinion that, as he added, was shared by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
“I spoke with Jack Dorsey about this and he and I are of the same mind which is that permanent bans should be extremely rare and we would reserve [them] for accounts that are bots or spam/scam accounts, where there’s no legitimacy to be accountable,” said Musk.
“I do think that 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 right in the United States, and so I think this could end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate.
“So I guess the answer is I would reverse the permaban, obviously I don’t own Twitter yet so it’s not a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter? But my opinion and Jack Dorsey to be clear shares this opinion is that we should not have permabans.”
Donald Trump’s account was shut down back in January 8th, 2021 after the former US President allegedly violated the platform’s terms and conditions for instigating violence during the raids on the nation’s Capitol building.
He himself has been reported stating to US network CNN that he has no intention of returning to the platform, despite the change in ownership, and will instead be proceeding with the launch of his own social media website, Truth Social.
