Among them are billionaire GOP donor Peter Thiel and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey made it known to Musk that the social networking site should be privately owned, according to people familiar with the matter. (Twitter was privately owned for the first seven years of its existence.) Dorsey resigned last November amid pressure from the board to do so amid investor concerns about running both Twitter and Square Inc. . Prior to his departure, Musk was regularly contacted – including via Twitter. The Journal also reported that when Twitter fired Donald Trump from the platform over fears that he might incite further violence after the January 6 uprising, Musk disagreed with the decision. Jared Birchal, Musk’s right-hand man, sent a message to a Musk associate: “He strongly disagrees with censorship. Especially for an incumbent president. Insane.” Musk also agrees with a common argument by right-wing commentators that Twitter activity by some individuals is subject to a “shadow ban” rather than an algorithm, according to an investor who recently spoke with the billionaire. The purchase of Musk has been heralded by some of these same commenters as a rebirth of free speech rights on the platform. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post. The newspaper reported that right-wing Holocaust skeptic Charles Johnson, who was permanently banned from Twitter in 2015 after asking for donations to “take out” a Black Lives Matter activist, recently asked Birchal to regain access to his account. “When will I recover my Twitter account?” Johnson asked in a message. “We hope soon,” Birchal replied.
