SAN FRANCISCO, United States —
Elon Musk
said on Tuesday that as owner of Twitter he would lift the ban on Donald Trump,
contending that kicking the former US president off the platform “alienated a
large part of the country.”
اضافة اعلان
Musk’s endorsement of a Trump return to the global
messaging platform triggered fears among activists that Musk would “open the
floodgates of hate.”
“I would reverse the permanent ban,” the billionaire
said at a Financial Times conference, noting that he doesn’t own Twitter yet,
so “this is not like a thing that will definitely happen.”
Trump has stated publicly that he would not come
back to Twitter if permitted, opting instead to stick with his own social
network, which has failed to gain traction.
The Tesla chief’s $44-billion deal to buy
Twitter must still get the backing of shareholders and regulators, but he has voiced
enthusiasm for less content moderation and “time-outs” instead of bans.
Trump was booted from Twitter and other online
platforms after supporters fired up by his tweets and speech alleging election
fraud attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in a deadly bid to stop Joe
Biden from being certified as the victor in the
US presidential election.
“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,” Musk said.
Musk maintained that permanent bans undermine trust
in Twitter as an online town square where everyone can be heard.
“Elon Musk would open the floodgates of hate and
disinformation on Twitter,” said Media Matters for America president Angelo
Carusone.
“Whether Elon Musk is a fully red-pilled right-wing
radical or just someone very interested in enabling right-wing extremists, the
result is the same.”
The
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), however,
backed Musk’s perspective.
“Elon Musk’s decision to re-platform President Trump
is the right call,” said organization director Anthony Romero.
“Like it or not, president Trump is one of the most
important political figures in this country, and the public has a strong
interest in hearing his speech.”
Romero pointed out that some of Trump’s controversy
causing tweets have wound up being evidence in lawsuits against the former
president by the ACLU and others.
Musk reasoned that permanent bans at Twitter should
be rare, and reserved for accounts that are spam, scams or run by software
“bots.”
“That doesn’t mean that somebody gets to say
whatever they want to say,” Musk said.
“If they say something that is illegal or otherwise
just destructive to the world, then there should be a perhaps a timeout, a
temporary suspension, or that particular tweet should be made invisible or have
very limited attraction.”
Ad boycott?
Activist groups have called
on Twitter advertisers to boycott the service if it opens the gates to abusive
and misinformative posts with Musk as its owner.
“Under Musk’s management, Twitter risks becoming a
cesspool of misinformation, with your brand attached,” said an open letter
signed by more than two dozen groups including Media Matters, Access Now, and
Ultraviolet.
Twitter makes most of its revenue from ads, and that
could be jeopardized by advertisers’ reaction to content posted on the
platform, the San Francisco-based tech firm said in a filing with US
regulators.
“We believe that our long-term success depends on
our ability to improve the health of the public conversation on Twitter,” the
company said in a regulatory filing.
Efforts toward that goal include fighting abuse,
harassment, and spam, Twitter told regulators.
“Elon Musk owes the world a better explanation of
how the platform will deal with the likes of Trump than an edict that his
ouster was wrong because it proved unpopular in some places,” said Suzanne
Nossel, chief of human rights nonprofit PEN America.
The Knight Foundation said that a survey it
commissioned found that only 41 percent of adults in the United States believe
Trump was deprived of free expression rights by social media platforms that
banned him.
“People died because of Donald Trump’s Twitter
account,” said Muslim Advocates senior policy counsel Sumayyah Waheed.
“I’m terrified of what else would be allowed under Musk’s
watch.”
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