Musk wants Trump to tweet again - but he is said to have no interest at all
Created: 05/11/2022, 13:05
Former US President Donald Trump's comeback on Twitter?
Elon Musk wants to allow him again.
That could help Trump a lot with a new candidacy.
LONDON - Technology billionaire Elon Musk wants to reverse the ban on former US President Donald Trump from Twitter after the proposed takeover of the short message service.
"I would lift the permanent ban," Musk said Tuesday (May 10) at a
conference in London organized by the
Financial Times .
The expulsion was a "morally bad decision" and a "mistake".
Twitter banned Trump after radical supporters of the President-elect stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
At the time, the online platform explained the reason for the permanent suspension of Trump's user account that there was a "risk of further incitement to violence".
Elon Musk: Trump's ejection contributed to division
Musk, who wants to take over Twitter for $44 billion, has now sharply criticized this move.
"I think it was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country (from Twitter) and ultimately didn't result in Donald Trump having no voice," said the founder and chief executive of electric car maker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX.
A final expulsion of users is a "morally bad decision" because it undermines trust in Twitter.
"That doesn't mean that someone can say anything they want," the richest person in the world emphasized.
Tweets that are "illegal or otherwise destructive" may be subject to account suspension, a "time-out."
At the same time, Musk emphasized at the
Financial Times
conference, where he was connected via video, that he does not yet own Twitter.
With a view to Trump's possible return to the short message service, he said: "This is not something that will definitely happen."
Musk wants Trump to tweet again - but he is said to have no interest at all
Trump himself said in April that he had no plans to return to Twitter if he were allowed to.
Rather, he will concentrate on the online platform "Truth Social" he founded, which has so far not been very successful.
However, there are serious doubts that the former president could resist the temptation to return to what is believed to be the most important online platform for politicians in the United States.
For years, Twitter was the right-wing populist's preferred means of communication, who knew exactly how to attract public attention with his tweets.
A screenshot of Donald Trump's former Twitter account dated January 2, 2020. © @realDonaldTrump/afp
At the end of last week, the 75-year-old failed with a lawsuit to unblock his Twitter user account.
A federal judge in California dismissed the lawsuit's argument that the Twitter ban constituted "censorship" and violated the constitutional right to free speech.
Musk wants to bring Trump back to Twitter: ex-president could benefit from new candidacy
Trump has repeatedly raised a possible candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.
He remains the strongman in his Republican Party because of his strong support from the conservative base.
After the Capitol storming on January 6, 2021, large parts of the party still distanced themselves from Trump.
After his electoral defeat by Democrat Joe Biden, the then President called on his supporters to march to the Capitol and fight "whatever the hell".
The attack on Congress at the time when Biden's election victory was to be officially confirmed there resulted in a total of five deaths.
Trump subsequently survived impeachment proceedings - and was able to reassert his power over his party in the weeks and months that followed.
(afp)