Elon Musk Says He Will Reverse Twitter's Ban on Former US President Donald Trump

The Tesla CEO said that the decision to ban Trump was "foolish" and a "morally bad decision."

Tech billionaire Elon Musk

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Tesla CEO and tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday, 10 May, that Twitter would reverse the ban on former United States (US) President Donald Trump once his purchase of the social media company was successful.

Musk said that the decision banning Trump for inciting violence following the US Capitol attack in January last year, was "foolish" and a "morally bad decision," reported AP.

Speaking virtually at an automobile conference, Musk said,

"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 added that he preferred temporary suspensions rather than permanent bans, which should be reserved for content "destructive to the world."

Jack Dorsey Says Permanent Bans Are a 'Failure'

Meanwhile, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey backed Elon Musk's remarks about permanent bans being a 'failure' and said that they should be reserved for 'exceptions', such as illegal activity or spam.

He tweeted, "I do agree. There are exceptions (CSE, illegal behaviour, spam or network manipulation, etc), but generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don't work, which I wrote about here after the event (and called for a resilient social media protocol)."

On 13 January 2021, Dorsey, the then-CEO of Twitter, said that he did not "celebrate or feel pride" in banning Donald Trump's account.

He had tweeted, "I do not celebrate or feel pride in our having to ban Donald Trump from Twitter, or how we got here. After a clear warning we’d take this action, we made a decision with the best information we had based on threats to physical safety both on and off Twitter. Was this correct?"

Trump Says He Will Not Rejoin Twitter

Musk has previously criticised Twitter's content moderation policies but refrained from commenting on his plans for Trump’s account till the purchase was finalised.

Meanwhile, the former US President has no plans of rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated, he told Fox News last month. He said that he was focusing on his own social media platform called Truth Social.

Elon Musk claims that Trump will take a "large part" of the US political right-wing to Truth Social, which will create a situation "worse than having a single forum where everyone can debate."

Musk's remarks on Tuesday have sparked a debate on whether others who have been banned from Twitter could also return.

On Monday, 25 April, Twitter announced that it has agreed to the $44 billion takeover offer from the world's richest man Elon Musk. Once the deal is implemented, it will become a privately owned company.

(With inputs from AP.)