Philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is suggesting former President Donald Trump should be allowed to be back on social media eventually.
During Thursday’s interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Gates said, “I think at some point he probably will be allowed back on and probably should be allowed back on.”
“It’s weird when you’re, you know, saying that the election was stolen without any facts there. And how corrosive that is,” Gates said. “But I’ll bet they’ll find a way to let him back on.”
The philanthropist added that he believes Trump’s remarks on social media may be labeled “false in a lot of cases” if he were able to rejoin.
He continued, “You know in a way, people’s interest in what he says may go down quite a bit. That’ll be interesting to watch.”
Watch the video below:
"It's weird when you're saying the election was stolen without any facts there, and how corrosive that is. But I'll bet they'll find a way to let him back on," says @BillGates on President Trump's social media ban. pic.twitter.com/ebFPdVzosL
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) February 18, 2021
Trump was banned from Facebook and Twitter, among other platforms.
Twitter permanently banned Trump from the platform in January — which came shortly after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The social media platform wrote in a blog post at the time, “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Facebook and Instagram also suspended Trump’s account indefinitely.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a previous Facebook post, “His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world.”
Facebook’s independent content oversight board is reviewing whether Trump should stay banned on the platform. The board is expected to rule on the case by April.
Twitter CFO Ned Segal recently said during a CNBC interview, “The way our policies work, when you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform, whether you’re a commentator, you’re a CFO, or you are a former or current public official.”
“Remember, our policies are designed to make sure that people are not inciting violence, and if anybody does that, we have to remove them from the service and our policies don’t allow people to come back,” Segal added.
