Billionaire Elon Musk said that former US president Donald Trump would no longer be banned on Twitter if his purchase of the social media company goes through. "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," said Musk, adding that he preferred temporary suspensions and other narrowly tailored punishments for content that is illegal or otherwise destructive to the world. He said that Twitter's ban of Trump following the Jan 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol was a morally bad decision and foolish in the extreme.
Facebook had suspended Trump's account in January 20. "Facebook officially silences the President of the United States. For better or worse, this will be remembered as a turning point in the battle for control over digital speech," Edward Snowden tweeted at the time. Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the microblogging platform on Friday, citing a risk of further incitement of violence in the wake of the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of the outgoing president that same month.
Trump had, however, said that he won't be returning to Twitter. “No, I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen in April “I will be on Truth Social within the week. It is on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He is an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated by Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter,” he said.
Musk has been highlighting free speech and an end to the censoriousness in the platform during the acquisition saga. In a regulatory filing, Musk said: “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” Musk elaborated on the free speech argument at a TED Talk event in Vancouver on Thursday. “I think it's very important for there to be an inclusive arena for free speech,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters. Musk was quoted by the Vancouver Sun as saying “Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.”
