(New York) Elon Musk said on Tuesday that if he took control of Twitter, he would lift the permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account decided after the attack on Capitol Hill, saying it was a decision “morally bad” and “senseless”.
Posted at 2:15 p.m.
Updated at 2:29 p.m.
“I think it was a mistake, because it alienated a large part of the country and ultimately did not prevent Donald Trump from being heard” since he is now on his own social network, underlined the entrepreneur during of a conference organized by the FinancialTimes.
The multi-billionaire recently made an agreement to buy the social network for 44 billion dollars.
The former US president was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021 due to the risk of incitement to violence following the violent attack on the Capitol.
Mr. Trump himself has ruled out returning to the social network.
“What I want to try to say […] is that banning Trump from Twitter does not prevent him from speaking,” added Mr. Musk, believing that it would even “amplify (his speech) on the right”.
Permanent bans should be “extremely rare” and reserved for example for fake accounts, said the entrepreneur.
“That doesn’t mean anyone can say whatever they want, if they say something that’s illegal or destructive to the world,” Musk added. But then you have to consider temporary suspensions or tweets “which are made invisible” or “with a very limited scope”.
“But I think permanent bans fundamentally undermine trust in Twitter as a public place where everyone can voice their opinion,” he said.
The richest man in the world has decided to buy Twitter to make it a private company, not listed on the stock exchange, and wants to make it a bastion of freedom of expression, which he considers flouted by too strict content moderation .
Monday, after a visit by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, to Texas, the businessman however assured that he fully agreed with the new European rules on the regulation of social networks, which will constrain the major platforms to better fight against illegal content.