Musk: "Trump's Permanent Twitter Ban Is a Foolish Decision... Will Be Reversed"

Elon Musk Tesla CEO
Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who is set to acquire the social networking service (SNS) Twitter, announced that he would reverse the permanent suspension of former U.S. President Donald Trump's Twitter account, which was imposed following the 'Capitol riot' incident.

According to Bloomberg and others on the 10th (local time), Musk made this statement during a virtual speech at the Financial Times (FT)-hosted 'Future of the Car' conference. He described the permanent suspension of Trump's account as "morally wrong and completely foolish," adding, "The solution is for me to overturn the permanent suspension decision."

Musk pointed out that Trump's account suspension made his supporters feel alienated and did not silence the former president's voice; rather, this measure amplified his voice even more. Musk said, "The suspension of Trump's account does not create a forum where everyone can participate in discussions; frankly, it could lead to a worse situation."

Musk stated that permanent suspensions should be limited to disciplinary actions against spam accounts and shared this view with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Following Musk's remarks, Dorsey agreed with this perspective, tweeting, "There are exceptions, but permanent suspension is our failure."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump [Photo by Reuters]

Regarding criticisms that Twitter is left-leaning, Musk argued that it seems more due to the company's current headquarters being in San Francisco rather than intentional bias, and claimed that Twitter has failed to build trust in the U.S. and other parts of the world. San Francisco, the cradle of Silicon Valley, is known as a stronghold of the U.S. Democratic Party and one of the cities with a strong progressive character.

Musk's remarks came after he announced plans to transform Twitter into a platform guaranteeing 'freedom of expression' upon acquiring the company. His emphasis on freedom of expression led to strong speculation within the U.S. SNS industry and political circles that Musk would restore Trump's Twitter account.

Previously, Trump's Twitter account was permanently suspended in January last year, immediately following the Capitol riot by his supporters, on the grounds that it could incite violent acts. Since then, Trump has filed a lawsuit seeking to restore his account and has been using his own SNS called 'Truth Social.' In an interview with Fox News last month, Trump said that even if his account is restored, "I will not go to Twitter and will stay on Truth Social."

Trump's side did not immediately respond to Musk's remarks on the day, and Twitter declined to comment.

The White House expressed a concerned stance. During a briefing that day, spokesperson Jen Psaki said that deciding who to allow on a private company's online platform is the company's decision. However, she emphasized that the Biden administration wants online platforms not to become venues for misinformation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.