Elon Musk has said he would reverse Twitter’s decision to ban former US president Donald Trump from the platform, describing the decision as “morally wrong and outright stupid”.
“I would reverse the permanent ban — but I don’t own Twitter yet,” Musk said, adding that he had spoken to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey about the platform having “permabans” on users that violate its content policies.
“It was not correct to ban Donald Trump; I think that was a mistake,” the Tesla chief executive added in an interview with the Financial Times.
Musk said the decision, made in the wake of the January 6 riots following Trump’s election loss, “alienated a large part of the country”. That sort of alienation “could be frankly worse” than a single forum where everyone can debate.
“It doesn’t end Trump’s voice. It will amplify it among the right. That’s why it’s morally wrong and outright stupid,” he added.
China plans
Separately, China is expected to represent about 25 per cent to 30 per cent of Tesla’s market in the long-term, Musk said, but ruled out more factories there for now.
In setting up Tesla’s Shanghai factory, Musk said he had indicated to the Chinese government they would not be doing a locally-owned plant.
“Things are proceeding fairly well,” he continued.
Musk also said Tesla was “not expecting to open any additional plants” in China in the “near future”, but would be expanding its Shanghai factory and also focusing production on other plants that have been completed in Austin, Texas, and Berlin, Germany.
