Topline
Billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday said he would lift Twitter’s ban on former President Donald Trump—a move he called “flat-out stupid”—if he completes a $44 billion acquisition of the social media company, a month after Trump said he would not seek to get back on the site.
Elon Musk speaks at a conference.
Key Facts
Speaking virtually at a Future of the Car event hosted by the Financial Times, the CEO of Tesla called the move to ban Trump a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.”
Musk said Twitter should limit permanent bans to spam accounts and bots, though he said that doesn’t mean users should be able to “say whatever they want to say.”
Permanent bans, he said, “fundamentally undermine trust” in Twitter as a “town square where everyone can voice their opinion.”
The comments come a month after Twitter’s board agreed to be acquired by Musk, who’s currently seeking to solidify his financing.
Musk argued more appropriate actions would consist of temporary suspensions or efforts to make certain tweets invisible or have “limited traction.”
A spokesperson for Trump did not respond to a request for comment from Forbes.
Crucial Quote
“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,” Musk said.
Key Background
The comments come a month after Trump told CNBC he would not return to Twitter even if Musk reversed the company’s ban. Trump said he would instead stick to posting on Truth Social, the social media site he announced he would launch last year as a rival to popular social media companies after Twitter, YouTube and Facebook froze his accounts following the January 6 insurrection. Truth Social was supposed to be fully operational by the end of March, but its rollout has been plagued by technological glitches, a waitlist of millions of users and resignations from the company’s heads of technology and product development. Musk on Tuesday claimed banning Trump from Twitter amplified his voice “from the right” instead of silencing the former president. Musk noted restoring Trump’s access on Twitter is contingent on the completion of his acquisition, which he cautioned was not a done deal, with several steps remaining. It’s unclear if a takeover of Twitter by Musk undercuts the rationale for Truth Social. Trump has proposed the site as a free speech alternative to Twitter, but Musk has been clear he’d relax the company’s moderation practices. Trump started to post regularly on Truth Social two weeks ago after two months of silence.
Tangent
Truth Social has been downloaded roughly 2.5 million times from the iPhone app store since its launch, according to data from Sensor Tower, a company that monitors mobile apps metrics. Downloads of Truth Social hit one million for the week of April 25 to May 2 alone following news Twitter’s board agreed to be acquired by Musk, according to Sensor Tower. Installations fell to 137,000 the following week.
Further Reading
Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter ban on Donald Trump (Washington Post)
Donald Trump says he won’t return to Twitter if Elon Musk reverses ban (CNBC)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/05/10/musk-says-he-would-lift-twitter-ban-on-trump/