In 2021, the former President of the U.S., Donald Trump was kicked off Twitter. This was done after the ex-President’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. He was accused of misusing the social media giant to incite violence and was removed because of “the risk of further incitement of violence.”
But for some time now, Twitter has been undergoing a lot of changes; after Elon Musk rejected a seat on the Twitter Board and then moved on to acquire the company for $44 billion, the world has been on its feet to hear what happens next.
“Banning Trump from Twitter didn’t end Trump’s voice; it will amplify it among the right. And that’s why it’s morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”
– Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla
To give you an update, now Elon Musk has said that the company will be lifting the ‘wrongly placed ban’ on Donald Trump from the social media platform after he closes his deal. The anticipation of this move goes in unison with Musk’s advocacy for free speech on Twitter.
At the Financial Times Future of the Car conference, Elon Musk said, “Banning Trump from Twitter didn’t end Trump’s voice; it will amplify it among the right. And that’s why it’s morally wrong and flat-out stupid.” Musk also stated how he is against the suspension or ban that the platform places on accounts permanently. The Tesla owner also feels that permanent accounts bans should be reserved for bot accounts or spam accounts.
However, Musk highlighted that he doesn’t own the company yet and he may or may not move forward with this move. He added, “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.”
Although Musk has been always vocal about free or unregulated speech, he feels that there should be some measures against harmful posts. These measures could include a temporary ban, or making tweets invisible to users but he didn’t elaborate a lot on what destructive or harmful posts mean.
Jack Dorsey, former CEO and co-founder of Twitter also came forward to express his views on this. The decision to permanently ban Trump was taken by Jack Dorsey and he still believes that it was the right thing to do. But he also agreed with Elon Musk that permanent bans don’t really work on the platform.
On the other hand, when Elon Musk was in the process to acquire Twitter, there were questions raised about whether Trump would be back on Twitter. To this, the former President expressed that he will not be returning to Twitter, but rather be active on his platform Truth Social.