Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday he would reverse Twitter’s ban on former US President Donald Trump when he buys the social media platform, the clearest signal of Musk’s intention to cut moderation of the site.
Musk, the world’s richest person and chief executive of Tesla Inc, has inked a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. He has called himself a “free speech absolutist” but given few specific details of his plans.
Musk is expected to become Twitter’s temporary CEO after closing the deal, Reuters previously reported according to a source familiar with the matter.
The question of reinstating Trump has been seen as a litmus test of how far Musk will go in making changes.
Musk, speaking to the Financial Times Future of the Car conference, added that he and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey believe permanent bans should be “extremely rare” and reserved for accounts that operate bots or spread spam.
Musk said the decision to ban Trump amplified his views among people on the political right, and he called the ban “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”
The suspension of Trump’s account, which had more than 88 million followers, silenced his primary megaphone days before the end of his term and follows years of debate about how social media companies should moderate the accounts of powerful global leaders.
Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter shortly after the Jan. 6 riot on the US Capitol. Twitter cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” in its decision.
‘OUGHT TO BE EVERYWHERE’
Conservatives, who have accused San Francisco-based Twitter of bias against right-leaning views, have cheered the prospect of Trump’s return.
“He (Trump) ought to be everywhere he can,” Republican Senator Rick Scott told reporters when asked about Musk’s comments.
“We ought to have free speech in this country. We shouldn’t have social media companies that are restricting people’s ability to get their message out,” added Scott.
Democrats have said Trump’s potential reinstatement could constitute a threat to democracy, although some hope that a frequently-tweeting Trump could upset their base and rev up turnout in the November midterm congressional elections.
Twitter declined to comment.
Trump had previously told Fox News that he would not return to Twitter even if Musk purchases the platform and reinstates his account, and said he would use his own social media app called Truth Social, a Twitter-like platform that launched on the Apple app store in late February and in which users post “truths” instead of tweets.
Trump has revved up his messaging on the new platform after a slow start, posting about 50 times, mostly in the last week, to his 2.7 million followers.
The platform is owned by Trump Media & Technology Group, which is led by Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman. There was no immediate comment from a Trump spokesperson.
During the conference, Musk said the deal to acquire Twitter could be done in two to three months in the “best case scenario.” But he added Twitter has not yet filed the proxy for a shareholder vote to approve the deal, and there were still outstanding questions that needed to be resolved.
Earlier on Tuesday, Twitter shares fell to a level that indicated the stock market took the view for the first time that it was unlikely that Musk would make the acquisition for $44 billion, as he originally agreed.
