South African billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he will lift former US President Donald Trump’s ban on Twitter if the deal to buy the social network continues.
“I would take back the ban,” the billionaire told the Financial Times conference, but said that “it’s not certain that will happen,” as he doesn’t have Twitter yet.
The Tesla owner’s bid to buy Twitter for $44 billion (or R$214 billion at the time) has yet to receive support from shareholders and regulators.
According to information published by the Bloomberg news agency, Musk raised US$7.1 billion (or R$34.91 billion) in new funding for the acquisition of Twitter last week.
The list of investors includes crypto exchange Binance, Brookfield, Fidelity Management & Research and Qatar Holding, as well as an entrepreneur and co-founder of Oracle Corp. Larry Ellison committed to investing US$1 billion (or US$4.9 billion).
The billionaire bought Twitter in April, justifying restoring freedom of speech as one of the reasons that prompted him to invest in the platform.
The entrepreneur specifically denounces the platform’s censorship of a “New York Post” story revealing messages found on the laptop of the Democratic candidate’s son, Hunter Biden, a few weeks before the 2020 presidential election. The messages cited Joe Biden’s involvement in a money-and-influence swap scheme with companies in countries like Ukraine and China, and other content that could hurt the Democrat’s campaign.
Musk declares that he is against any form of censorship that goes beyond the limits of the law and promises to restore the network. The right to freedom of expression is quite broadly guaranteed by the US Constitution.
* Based on information from Reuters and UOL, in São Paulo
source: Noticias
