Elon Musk says that it was a “mistake” for Twitter to ban Donald Trump in the wake of the infamous January 6 Capitol Riot for violating the platform’s rules against violence incitement.
“Permanent bans should be extremely rare and really reserved for accounts that are bots, or scam, spam accounts … I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake,” Musk said. “I would reverse the perma-ban … But my opinion, and [Twitter founder] Jack Dorsey, I want to be clear, shares this opinion, is that we should not have perma-bans.”
Charley Gallay / Getty Images
He explained: “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.”
“Obviously, I don’t own Twitter yet, so this is not a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter?” Musk clarified.
Trump was banned from Twitter, as well as several other social media platforms, in January 2021 after they determined he incited his supporters to riot at the Capitol to prevent congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
The former President has since launched his own social media platform, Truth Social.
Check out a clip of Musk’s explanation below as well as his broader keynote interview.
[Via]