Elon Musk has finally confirmed what many have long suspected: that he will allow Donald Trump back on Twitter.
In an interview with The Financial Times, Musk said he would reinstate Trump when his Twitter acquisition is complete. “I guess the answer is that I would lift the permanent ban,” Musk said when asked if he would allow the former president back on the platform. “Obviously I don’t own Twitter yet. So this is not something that will definitely happen, because what will happen if I don’t own Twitter. “
Although Musk has long indicated that he disagrees with Twitter’s decision to ban Trump, this is the first time he has explicitly said he will “repeal” it. “I think the bans just undermine Twitter’s credibility as a town square where everyone can have a say,” Musk said. He added that the permanent bans should be reserved for “accounts that are bots or spam accounts”.
Whether Musk will bring Trump back is a major question, and the company’s own executives have told employees they don’t know in which direction Musk will take the company. Employees are concerned that Musk could reverse many of the company’s trust and security policies and reverse the progress it has made in combating online abuse and misinformation.
Musk said accounts that are “destructive to the world” could still be punished by temporarily suspending or deleting individual tweets. But he said he and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey believe that permanent bans “should be extremely rare.”
Twitter did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The company banned Trump after the January 6 uprising, saying the president had violated his rules on incitement to violence. Dorsey, the then chief executive, said at the time that he believed the permanent bans could set a “dangerous” precedent, but that the company had made the right decision in the face of “extraordinary and insolvent circumstances”.
Musk called the ban a “morally bad decision” and cited Trump-backed Truth Social as proof that the ban on Twitter did not have the expected effect. The former president has said he will not rejoin Twitter, even if the ban is lifted.
“He will now be at Truth Social, as will much of the right in the United States,” Musk said. “Trump’s ban on Twitter did not end Trump’s vote. It will strengthen him among the right, and that is why it is morally wrong and downright stupid. “
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