Donald Trump’s Twitter ban would be reversed by Elon Musk
The Tesla CEO claimed Tuesday that Twitter’s decision to block Trump following the January 6, 2021 insurgency at the US Capitol was “morally wrong” and “very dumb.”
Elon Musk claimed that if his purchase of Twitter goes through, the network’s ban on former President Donald Trump will be lifted, indicating how open the platform may become to free expression under his control.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed Tuesday that Twitter’s move to ban Trump following the January 6, 2021 insurgency at the US Capitol was a “morally horrible judgment” and “very irresponsible.”
“I believe it was a mistake,” Musk said, adding that he prefers interim bans and other carefully defined punishments for content that is unlawful or otherwise “damaging to the planet.” In a Tuesday post, Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey expressed his agreement, saying, “usually permanent bans are a failing of ours and don’t work.” Twitter’s stock fell 1.5 per cent to $47.24 per share on Tuesday. This is a 13% drop from Musk’s April 14 offer of $54.20 per share, or $44 billion, reflecting Wall Street’s worries that the deal may still fall through. It’s “definitely not a done deal,” Musk said on Tuesday.
Musk has regularly chastised Twitter’s content moderation choices, including Trump’s suspension for “inciting violence,” but has mostly been silent on what he plans to do about Trump’s account. Peter Campbell, an automotive writer for the Financial Times, which hosted the car conference, asked him for further specifics on Tuesday.
“If Musk is concerned that many people were outraged because Trump was banned, he should consider how many more people would be upset if Trump were not prohibited,” said Kirsten Martin, a University of Notre Dame professor of technology ethics. “Musk appears to be concerned mainly with the views of a tiny minority of people who instigate violence or spread hate speech.”
Trump previously claimed that even if his account was reactivated, he would not return to Twitter, telling Fox News last month that he would instead focus on his platform, Truth Social, which has been plagued by troubles since its inception earlier this year.
Musk seems to believe such accusations, claiming on Tuesday that Trump will attend Truth Social alongside a “big section” of the US political right, resulting in a situation that is “frankly worse than having a single venue where everyone can discuss.”
In reaction to Musk’s statements, a Trump representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Trump’s Twitter character was a combination of policy pronouncements, frequently out of the blue; media complaints; disparagement of women, minorities, and his perceived opponents; and appreciation for his followers, replete with exclamation points, all-caps, and one-word assertions like “Sad!”
On Twitter, he dismissed several authorities, and his messages, like his rallies, were full of falsehoods.
When reading Trump’s comments in the context of the Capitol incident and plans emerging online for future armed protests around President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, Twitter believed they amounted to a celebration of violence.
Musk’s comments on Tuesday open the possibility that others who were previously banned, in addition to Trump, may return. QAnon supporters, COVID doubters, neo-Nazis, and former reality star Tila Tequila, who was suspended for hate speech, are among those who have been banned from Twitter.
Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, Lin Wood, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was permanently banned from Twitter in January for frequently promoting falsehoods regarding COVID-19 and vaccination safety, are among Trump’s friends who have been removed.
Far-right trolls like Baked Alaska, who pushed anti-Semitic stereotypes and faces charges related to his role in the Jan. 6 attack, have been banned, as have white supremacist David Duke and the frequently violent Proud Boys organization.
In 2018, Infowars creator Alex Jones was permanently banned for aggressive behaviour. Jones lost a defamation suit brought by the parents of children slain in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, school massacre last year because of Jones’ repeated statements that the tragedy was staged.
According to Musk, Twitter now has a significant left-wing tilt, owing to its location in San Francisco. “It’s way too random, and I think Twitter has to be much more equally handed,” he stated, claiming that the claimed prejudice inhibits it from gaining confidence in the rest of the US and the rest of the globe.
Musk’s comments were met with silence on Twitter. After meeting with the EU’s single market leader on Tuesday, Musk said he backed a new European Union rule aimed at safeguarding social media users from bad information.
Thierry Breton, the EU’s internal market commissioner, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he explained to Musk how the bloc’s internet legislation aims to protect free expression while also ensuring that anything criminal “would be disallowed in the digital arena,” something Musk “completely agreed with.”
Musk said the two had a “wonderful chat” in a video Breton posted late Monday, and that he agreed with the Digital Services Act, which is anticipated to get final approval later this year.
It will force giant digital firms like Twitter, Google, and Facebook parent Meta to more severely regulate their platforms for unlawful or damaging content like hate speech and misinformation or face billion-dollar fines.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
