Musk says he would reverse Twitter’s ban of Trump

Elon Musk said Twitter would reverse its ban of former President Donald Trump if his purchase of the social media company goes through, signaling just how permissive the platform could become toward free speech under his ownership.

Speaking virtually at an auto conference, the Tesla CEO said Tuesday that Twitter’s ban of Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was a “morally bad decision” and “foolish in the extreme.”

“I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” said Musk, adding that he preferred temporary suspensions and other narrowly tailored punishments for content that is illegal or otherwise “destructive to the world.”

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey voiced his agreement in a Tuesday tweet in which he said “generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don’t work.”