By David
Ingram
Billionaire Elon Musk said Tuesday that he will allow former President Donald Trump to return to Twitter if he manages to finally buy the social network.
Musk told an event sponsored by the Financial Times that it was "extremely foolish" for Twitter to permanently suspend Trump in January 2021, after supporters of the then president violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021.
“I do believe that it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” said Musk, CEO of Tesla, through a video call during the Future of the Car event of the aforementioned newspaper.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Sunday, May 1, 2022, in Greenwood, Nebraska.Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP
"I think it was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and it didn't ultimately result in Trump having no voice," he said, citing Trump's newly launched tech platform Truth Social.
"I would reverse the permanent ban," Musk said.
[For experts it is an enigma if it will be "a radical change" that Elon Musk has bought Twitter]
Twitter CEO at the time, Jack Dorsey, defended the ban "based on physical security threats both inside and outside" the social network.
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Trump said last month that he would not return to the social network even if he were allowed to, explaining that he was committed to Truth Social.
Musk said he feared political discussions would fracture too much if conservatives weren't welcome on Twitter.
“I think this could end up being frankly worse than having a single forum where everyone could debate,” he said.