Musk says he would reverse Twitter’s ban of Trump

Elon Musk said he will reverse Twitter’s permanent ban of former President Donald Trump should the Tesla CEO conclude his deal to acquire the social media company for $44 billion.

Musk, speaking virtually at a Future of the Car summit hosted by the Financial Times, said Twitter’s Trump ban was a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.” He said permanent bans of Twitter accounts should be rare and reserved for accounts that are scams or automated bots.

“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,” Musk said. “So I think this may 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.”

Musk added that his distaste for permanent bans is shared by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, who voiced his agreement in a Tuesday tweet in which he said “generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don’t work.”