Elon Musk should let Donald Trump back on Twitter

I want – need – to hear what Trump has to say, even if it is offensive. Especially if it is offensive

Elon Musk may be a brilliant businessman, and used to press attention, but like many others who’ve waded into politics and the media, he may find some difficulty acclimatising himself to this very different world. And buying Twitter – after a rather confusing process that suggested he actually didn’t really want or need it that much – was no tentative introduction to this new sphere of influence.

He is now not only someone who uses social media, but a publisher – or at least host for the billions of different 280-character long cells of content that make up this body politic (and an ever expanding one at that). He is responsible for what goes on – much of it mad – on this social media channel.

Let that sink in, as they say.

Take one of his earliest tweets after he took on the role and playfully changed his Twitter bio to “Chief Twit”. Insanely – he is not flawless despite his obvious areas of genius–- he tweeted that “there is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye”, and shared a link to a post and an unfounded conspiracy theory on the near-murderous hammer attack on Paul and Nancy Pelosi. He has since deleted the tweet.

Had he just been Elon Musk, Twitter user, it would have been fairly routine instance of stupidity. But he is now Elon Musk, confused owner of the entire platform, and thus is expected to provide a bit of an example about what is and is not permissible.

Not so long ago Musk declared himself a “free speech absolutist”. That does have the great advantage of abdicating any responsibility for what goes on, and leaves him the space to devote himself to ensuring Twitter makes money (such as the mooted monthly fee for a verified account).

But given the horrific vista that presented a sort of hellish cesspit of abuse and incitement to violence, the EU’s watchful eye on hate speech, and America’s famous litigiousness, Musk has thought again. It does need to be moderated, it would seem. The fact that advertisers wouldn’t go near such a mess may also have influenced his thinking. He is a capitalist, after all.

Musk’s preferred solution to the impossible quest to define the limits of free speech is a moderation council “with widely diverse viewpoints” and that “no major content decisions or account reinstatements” will be made before it meets. That, presumably, is why Donald Trump hasn’t shown up again yet.

Musk for all his worldliness, may be a little naive about the chances of a council with “widely diverse viewpoints” working. Imagine the BLM representative compromising with the white suprematists; the centrist Democrat finding common ground with the QAnon guy; and every faction in the Middle East coming up with a code of conduct.

The only way for Twitter to work is as it did before is to muddle through with guidelines and pragmatic moderators who’ll not get every call right, but err towards simple humanity. Some accounts – most obviously the fake “bot” accounts identified by Musk as he went through due diligence on the purchase – should be banned for life. Other troublesome ones can be managed in the usual way – warnings added and sometimes deleted, or subjected to temporary blocks. If there was a batter way, it would have been found by now.

The downside is that you get attacked by all sides in any given argument, often simultaneously. But someone has to make a call.

To keep up to speed with all the latest opinions and comment, sign up to our free weekly Voices Dispatches newsletter by clicking here

As it happens, I am not filled with dread about Trump returning to Twitter (though I am of him going back to the White House). When he was banned last year I thought it an error, simply because of who he was, and the position he held, and the politics of it. His incitements and lies could be moderated into sanity. I want – need – to hear what Trump has to say, even if it is offensive. Especially if it is offensive.

The danger with driving the likes of Trump off Twitter is that they end up on their own ghettoised alt right platforms. The social media world turns into a series of camps that never talk, debate, argue, row or abuse each tiebreaker – and that’s worse.

Twitter should be a bit of a democratic rough bisque with a liberal interpretation of free speech; a very broad, badly-behaved virtual parliament. It shouldn’t be a cosy clubhouse of people agreeing with each other and forming their own prejudices.

As an occasional Twitter user, I’d like to be optimistic, and feel that’s eventually this will settle down and not much will be altered by the Musk takeover (except that the platform may be more financially secure and have fewer bots). If so, then, like Elon tweeted: “The bird is freed”, and “let the good times roll”.