Elon Musk says he would lift Twitter ban on Trump

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk on Tuesday said he would lift Twitter’s ban on former US president Donald Trump if Musk’s deal to buy the global messaging platform is successful.

"I would reverse the ban," the billionaire said at a Financial Times conference, noting that he doesn’t own Twitter yet, so "this is not like a thing that will definitely happen." The Tesla chief’s $44-billion deal to buy Twitter must still get the backing of shareholders and regulators, but he has voiced enthusiasm for less content moderation and fewer bans.

“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 county, and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” Musk said.

Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the platform in January 2021 following the attack by his supporters on the US Capitol. The company said it made the decision after the Jan 6 riot “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Trump was an avid tweeter and at the time had more than 80 million followers on the platform. Once Musk announced he was interested in taking over the company in part to make it a free speech platform, questions arose about whether he would invite Trump back to Twitter.

Trump said last month he wouldn’t return to the social network if he had the chance. “No, I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen. Following the ban, Trump launched Truth Social, which is billed as a free speech alternative to Big Tech platforms.

“I will be on Truth Social within the week. It’s on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. 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,” Trump said.