Shaykh Al Albaani Rahimahullah said.

The Mubtadi’ is the one whose habit is innovating in the Religion, and he is not the one who innovates one Bid’ah (innovation) even if [his act of innovating in the Religion] was truly not out of Ijtihad (scholarly research and reasoning) but out of desire, and yet, along with that, this person is not called a Mubtadi’. And the clearest example to bring closer this [issue] is that the oppressive ruler might be just/fair in some of his rulings, so it is not said about him that he is just/fair, just as the just/fair ruler might oppress in some of his rulings, so it is not said about him [here] that he is an oppressor.

And this confirms the Islamic Fiqhi Qa’idah/principle that the person is [viewed in accordance with] what is predominant in him of good or evil. If we know this fact, we know who is really the Mubtadi’; therefore, there are two requirements for considering someone a Mubtadi’; the first: That he not be a Mujtahid (i.e. that he did not perform an act of Bid’ah out of Ijtihad), rather he was following his desires; and the second: That this be of his habit and what he usually does.
Ref: Silsilah Al-Huda Wal-Nur, no. 785
Taken from http://www.salafibayaan.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Answering-the-ghulaat.pdf