As the Elon Musk-Twitter takeover completes a month, the world’s richest person has been calculated in his response to the controversies even as his timeline – followed by over 118 million users – has been flooded with memes and swipes at the critics. A couple of days ago, the 51-year-old tech billionaire took an unprecedented decision of reviving Donald Trump’s Twitter account, which was banned after the 2021 US Capitol Hill riots. While the former US president has not tweeted all these days – even as the ban was lifted after 22 months – in what seems to be a snub, Musk says “a grave mistake” has been corrected.
“I’m fine with Trump not tweeting. The important thing is that Twitter corrected a grave mistake in banning his account, despite no violation of the law or terms of service. Deplatforming a sitting President undermined public trust in Twitter for half of America. (sic),” Musk wrote in response to one of the tweets. He further said he had voted for Joe Biden over Trump in the 2020 presidential elections.
“As a reminder, I was a significant supporter of the Obama-Biden presidency and (reluctantly) voted for Biden over Trump,” he insisted.
Elon Musk was responding to a post by author Tim Young, who tagged the new Twitter boss, and wrote: “It’s been a week since @elonmusk brought Trump back… and without him even tweeting once… The left can’t handle it. (sic)”
Musk, who has not shied away from talking about his political preferences despite all the criticism coming his way, also stressed in his Twitter thread that “freedom of speech is the bedrock of a strong democracy and must take precedence”. “My preference for the 2024 presidency is someone sensible and centrist. I had hoped that would the case for the Biden administration, but have been disappointed so far. (sic),” he shared, hinting at his political inclination for the 2024 US presidential elections.
Earlier this month, when the US was set to vote for midterms, the Twitter CEO had called for Americans to vote for Republicans.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Twitter account was revived days after he had announced his candidature for the 2024 elections. Musk conducted a poll asking if the former US president should be reinstated and about 51 per cent of those who voted replied in the affirmative. But asked if he would be using the social network, Trump – speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting. – said: “I don’t see any reason for it,” news agency Reuters reported.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Read More: ‘Fine if Trump not tweeting, grave mistake fixed’: Musk. Then a Biden remark | World News