Elon Musk, Donald Trump.Photo: Getty (2)
Donald Trumpmay be coming back to Twitter — at least, ifElon Musk’s acquisition of the social media platform moves forward.
On Tuesday, the 50-year-old Tesla CEO said that, if his deal to acquire Twitter goes through as planned, he would reverse the permanent ban against Trump that was put in place following the riots at the U.S. Capitol.
Speaking at FT Live’s Future of the Car conference Tuesday, Musk said the ban on Trump’s verified account was a “mistake” and that he would “reverse” it if he owned the social media platform.
“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,” Musk said, according to aCNBC report. “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 was quick to note, however, that he hasn’t yet acquired Twitter.
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” he added. “I don’t own Twitter yet. So this is not like a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter?”
In his own statement, Musk said called Twitter “the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” adding that he planned to enhance the platform with his takeover.
Trump’s verified Twitter account was permanently suspended in January 2021, following the violentriot at the U.S. Capitol, in which his supporters stormed the building as lawmakers counted the Electoral College votes certifying President-electJoe Biden’s November election win.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the social media platform announced at the time.
In acompany blog post, Twitter cited two of Trump’s tweets sent during the riots — which included a declaration that hewould not be attending Biden’s inauguration— as a “violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy.”
The company argued that Trump’s use of the phrase “American Patriots” in another recent tweet “is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.”
“The mention of his supporters having a ‘GIANT VOICE long into the future’ and that ‘They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!’ is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition’ and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election,” the platform noted.
The president’s permanent suspension came days after Twitterlocked Trump’s account for 12 hours, requiring the removal of three tweets “for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.” At the time, the company warned further violations of its policies “will result in permanent suspensionof the @realDonaldTrump account.”
In addition to Twitter’s ban,Facebook announced that same monththat Trump would be banned “indefinitely” from its platforms following the rioting at the Capitol.
source: people.com
