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Elon Musk (l.), Donald Trump: The Tesla boss is preparing the Trump comeback on Twitter - in time for the next presidential elections in 2024
Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM;
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP
Ex-President Donald Trump may have hopes of returning to Twitter in time for the 2024 White House race.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is in the process of taking over Twitter, would let Trump back on the platform.
"I would lift the ban," Musk said in a video interview at a Financial Times event on Tuesday.
Musk said the decision to ban Trump was "morally wrong and just plain stupid."
Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account after he expressed sympathy for his supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.
Critics had already feared that Musk, a self-proclaimed advocate of free speech, would allow Trump to return to the platform.
Trump recently said he didn't want to go back to Twitter, even if he could.
The presence on the platform, where he once had more than 80 million followers, could be important for a possible candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump used Twitter very actively to mobilize his supporters and create atmosphere.
He is trying to set up his own social media platform, which is struggling with start-up problems.
Takeover should take place at the end of the year
Musk said Trump's ban on Twitter was a mistake because a large segment of the US public didn't agree with it.
And it didn't mean that the ex-president was no longer able to make himself heard.
Musk wants to buy Twitter for around 44 billion dollars (41 billion euros).
The boss of the electric car manufacturer Tesla agreed on the deal with the Twitter board of directors, but is still dependent on enough shareholders wanting to cede their shares to him.
According to Musk, he has already collected several billion dollars for it.
Twitter and Musk aim to complete the acquisition by the end of the year.
ngo/AP/Reuters/dpa