Elon Musk said on Tuesday that if his plan to buy Twitter succeeds, the company’s ban on former US President Donald Trump will be lifted.
“I would revoke the permanent ban,” the billionaire stated at a Financial Times conference, adding that he does not yet own Twitter, so “this is not something that would absolutely happen.”
The Tesla CEO’s $44 billion bid to buy Twitter still needs shareholder and regulatory approval, but he has expressed support for less content filtering and “time-outs” rather than bans.
“I believe that banning Donald Trump was incorrect,” Musk stated.
That was a mistake, in my opinion, because it alienated a big portion of the public and did not result in Donald Trump losing his voice.”
After supporters enraged by Trump’s tweets alleging election fraud attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a tragic and unsuccessful attempt to prevent Joe Biden from being confirmed as the winner of the US presidential election, he was banned from Twitter and other online platforms.
Musk and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey agree that permanent bands should be reserved for accounts that are spam, frauds, or managed by software “bots,” according to Musk.
“That doesn’t imply someone can say whatever they want,” Musk said.
“If they say something that is illegal or otherwise harmful to the world, they should be given a timeout, a brief suspension, or that particular tweet should be hidden or have extremely limited appeal.”
Permanent bans, on the other hand, are a “morally awful judgment,” according to Musk, because they weaken trust in Twitter as an online town square where everyone can be heard.
Trump has declared openly that if allowed, he will not return to Twitter, preferring instead to focus on his own social network, which has struggled to acquire traction.
– – What about an ad boycott? Activists have urged Twitter advertisers to boycott the service if it allows rude and misleading postings with Musk as the owner.
“Your business runs the risk of being associated with a platform that amplifies hate, extremism, health misinformation, and conspiracy theorists,” according to an open letter signed by more than two dozen organizations, including Media Matters, Access Now, and Ultraviolet.
“Under Musk’s leadership, Twitter might devolve into a sewer of misinformation, with your brand linked.”
The majority of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising, which might be compromised if advertisers react negatively to information posted on the network, according to a filing with US regulators.
Twitter’s ad income grew 16 percent to $1.2 billion in the most recent quarter, but subscription and other revenue fell to $94.4 million, according to the report.
While Musk has not given specifics on how he plans to handle Twitter’s business, he has stated that he prefers to make money via subscriptions.
According to a recent regulatory filing by Twitter, an average of 229 million individuals utilized Twitter every day as of the end of March, up roughly 16 percent from the first three months of last year.
In the filing, the business stated, “We believe that our long-term success rests on our ability to improve the health of the public conversation on Twitter.”
Twitter informed authorities that it is working to combat abuse, harassment, spam, and “malicious automation,” or when software controls accounts instead of people.
