Elon Musk says he will reverse Twitter ban on Trump
ELON Musk said this week that he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former president Donald Trump, articulating for the first time his stance on one of the most consequential decisions before him at the social media site he is acquiring.
“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake,” Musk said at an event hosted by the Financial Times. “It alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”
The ban, he said, “was a morally bad decision, to be clear, and foolish in the extreme.” Twitter had banned Trump’s account after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 last year, citing the “risk of further incitement of violence”.
Musk – one of Twitter’s most prolific users, with more than 90 million followers – has agreed to purchase the social media company for about $44 billion (R705bn), arguing that the site should host unfettered free speech and function as a “de facto town square”.
He has broadly criticised Twitter’s content moderation decisions, arguing that the company’s permanent bans for rule-breaking accounts should have instead been temporary removals, so as not to suppress their use of the site long-term. Musk’s decision to lift the ban on Trump would not only overturn one of the most significant and widely debated corporate rulings in US tech. It could also hand the former president back a megaphone he had used for years to capture the world’s attention – and shout down his adversaries – at a moment when he is boosting allies during the 2022 midterm elections and preparing for an expected presidential run in 2024.
Musk acknowledged that the Twitter deal was not yet complete and that there were still issues to be worked out. But even if he does acquire the company, it’s unclear if Trump would rejoin. He had no plans to do so, said a Trump adviser said.
Trump advisers have worried that if he did rejoin Twitter, he would depress the value of his company’s recently launched Twitter clone, Truth Social, which has struggled to gain an audience. But Trump only has about 2 million followers on Truth Social – a tiny shred of the 88 million Twitter followers he lost – and he has voiced annoyance that his messages don’t get as much attention as they used to.
Musk, who is CEO of electric carmaker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX, began investing in Twitter this year and spent much of March opining on the necessity of an open forum – less restricted by moderation – on social media, at one point asking whether a new platform was needed. By last month, as Musk’s investment became public, his interest in Twitter became clear.
He has seized on the platform’s importance to democracy and global debate and criticised what he has described as a left-wing bias in moderation decisions. Twitter has countered that its efforts have been aimed at limiting exposure to hate speech and harassment.
Musk said Trump’s move to Truth Social was evidence of the failure of the permanent-ban policy, which he said could lead to debate becoming further polarised, and he has argued that the bans sho)uld be reserved for the most egregious rule violators, including bots and scam accounts. “A social media platform’s policies are good if the most extreme 10% on left and right are equally unhappy,” Musk tweeted.
He has said that he wants Twitter to do a better job promoting free speech. “My preference is to hew close to the laws of countries in which Twitter operates,” he tweeted. “If the citizens want something banned, then pass a law to do so, otherwise it should be allowed.”
At the recent Met Gala in New York, the entrepreneur said the social media site is “sort of niche”.
“My goal … would be to make Twitter as inclusive as possible and to have as broad a swathe of the country and the rest of the world on Twitter and that they find it interesting and entertaining and funny,” he said.
Some employees have expressed concerns that Musk would change the company culture, and could loosen content moderation that the company has worked hard on for years. Concern about workers quitting grew over the past couple weeks, especially when the company’s top lawyer faced online attacks after Musk tweeted a meme with a photo of her that cast her as an icon of “Twitter’s left-wing bias”.
Other companies owned by Musk are known for workplaces with long hours and high expectations.
He has shared a few details of features he might tweak on Twitter, including expressing support for an edit button. He also tweeted that Twitter will stay free for most users, but there might someday be “a slight cost for commercial/government users”.