Elon Musk says Twitter banning Donald Trump was a 'grave mistake.' The tech billionaire is 'fine' with Trump not tweeting, too.
- Elon Musk said Twitter's ban of Donald Trump was a mistake.
- The move "undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America," according to the billionaire.
Twitter's decision to ban former US President Donald Trump was a "grave mistake," according to Elon Musk.
The new Twitter owner and CEO on Friday explained in a reply on the platform that the reinstatement of Trump's account last week was, in his mind, a matter of justice more than an attempt to get Trump back as a user. Since Trump has been reinstated on Twitter, he has yet to use the platform that previously served as his go-to and near constant public communication tool.
"I'm fine with Trump not tweeting," Musk wrote on Friday. "The important thing is that Twitter correct a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service."
The US Congress formed a special committee to determine the exact type and number of laws Trump violated with his actions on Jan. 6, 2020, the day he sought to disrupt the transition of presidential power to current President Joe Biden. The committee proposed in court last month that Trump broke the law by obstructing an official proceeding of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the American people, among other allegations.
Since Musk took over Twitter at the end of October, he has slashed headcount and made changes to operations, including content moderation. Even before acquiring Twitter, Musk was open in his dislike of the company's active form of content and user moderation, saying it went against free speech principles, while maligning it for allowing "spam bots." Now, Musk says any speech that does not violate the law should be allowed on Twitter.
As for kicking Trump off the platform in 2020, Musk claims the move had a bad effect on Twitter.
"Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America," Musk wrote.
In another reply, he added: "Twitter as a platform must be fair to all."