While Elon Musk may be wondering aloud whether Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) needs to provide its users with an edit button, the new owner of a 9.2% stake in the social media platform is being bombarded with demands that he use his new authority within the company to unlock former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.
What Happened: Trump was banned from Twitter on Jan. 8, 2021, following a volatile series of tweets that openly questioned the legitimacy of Joe Biden's victory in the November election and culminated in comments made prior to the Jan. 6 riot by Trump supporters on Capitol Hill.
Five days after the ban, then-CEO Jack Dorsey posted a 13-tweet thread acknowledging that shutting down users' accounts "will be destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet" but ultimately insisting he made the right decision.
One month later, Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that Trump would not be back on the site even if he sought a return to the White House in the 2024 election.
"The way our policies work, when you're removed from the platform, you're removed from the platform whether you are a commentator, a CFO or you are a former or public official," Segal said.
See Also: Analysis: Did Elon Musk Violate SEC Rules With His Twitter Algorithm Poll?
What Happened Next: Twitter’s conservative-focused denizens have begun peppering Musk with demands that he reverse the platform’s ban on the former president and enable him to tweet again.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tweeted, "Now that @ElonMusk is Twitter’s largest shareholder, it’s time to lift the political censorship. Oh… and BRING BACK TRUMP!”
Monica Crowley, former Fox News contributor and former assistant secretary of the Treasury, tweeted, “Now that @elonmusk is Twitter's largest shareholder, he should demand the end of political censorship, company-wide reform, and the reinstatement of President Trump”
Oscar-nominated actor Randy Quaid tweeted, “Not only do we need Trump back in the White House we need him back on Twitter giving us hourly updates! Also good for Twitter stock price! And free speech! @elonmusk”
And Ray Neuner, CEO of Onchain Capital and CNBC commentator on cryptocurrency, asked Musk to “Bring back Trump, Remove Senator Karen, Create ETH emoji (Not Ethiopia).”
What Could Happen: Musk has never positioned himself as a Trump advocate. During the 2016 election, the South African-born Musk said about Trump, “I feel a bit stronger that he is probably not the right guy. He doesn't seem to have the sort of character that reflects well on the United States.”
Musk served on two advisory councils during the early months of the Trump administration but quit after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Later that year, Musk tweeted his opposition to the former president’s ban on immigration from several majority-Muslim countries, but later deleted his tweets. For the 2020 election, Musk initially voiced support for Andrew Yang and then switched allegiance to Kanye West.
Trump never had Musk in his crosshairs during his presidency, and in January 2020 he called Musk one of the world's "great geniuses." Trump commended Musk on Twitter for reopening the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) manufacturing facility in California in May 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic closed most of the U.S. economy — Musk thanked Trump on Twitter for the praise.
Although Musk has been added to Twitter’s board of directors, he doesn't have the ability to unilaterally change Twitter’s executive decisions. Attorney Ron Filipkowski warned that conservatives will turn on Musk if he agrees to maintain Twitter’s stand on Trump
“With all the MAGAs celebrating the Elon Musk news today because they think he will use his clout to reinstate Trump’s twitter account, it suddenly occurred to me that, to them, it will now be Musk’s fault every day that he remains banned,” Filipkowski tweeted.
Photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
