WASHINGTON Reuters -- Twitter's ban on then President Donald Trump after Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters was a grave mistake that had to be corrected, Chief Executive Elon Musk said on Friday.
I'm fine with Trump not tweeting. Musk said in a tweet that Twitter corrected a mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. The deposition of a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America. In a Twitter poll last week, Musk announced the reactivation of Trump's account after a slim majority voted in favor of reinstating Trump, who said he had no interest in returning to Twitter. He said that he would stick with his own social media site, Truth Social, an app developed by Trump Media Technology Group.
He was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021 after 10 days ago he announced he was running for election again in 2024, and was banned from his previous owners on January 8, 2021.
At the time, Twitter permanently suspended him because of the risk of further incitement of violence after the storming of the Capitol. The results of the November 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden were certified by the Senate when the Capitol was attacked after weeks of false claims by Trump that he had won.
Trump had repeatedly used Twitter and other sites to falsely claim that there had been widespread voter fraud, and urged supporters to march on Capitol in Washington to protest.
The attack is being investigated by U.S. prosecutors and a congressional committee.
Twitter didn't respond to a request for comment on Musk's statement that Trump did not violate any Twitter terms of service when his account was suspended.
On Friday, Musk said that calling for violence or incitement to violence on Twitter would result in a suspension, after saying on Thursday that Twitter would provide a general amnesty to suspended accounts that had not broken the law or engaged in spam.
Musk said it was very concerning that Twitter had taken no action earlier in the day to remove some accounts related to the far-left Antifa movement. In response to a tweet asking if Musk considered the statement that trans people deserve to die as worthy of suspension from the platform, the billionaire said: Absolutely Change and Chaos have marked Musk's first few weeks as Twitter's owner. He fired top managers and senior officials in charge of security and privacy quit.