Donald Trump permanently banned from Twitter to prevent “further incitement to violence”
Staff Reporter
January 9, 2021
US President Donald Trump has been permanently banned from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”, the company has announced.
According to the global social media website, the decision was taken “after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them”.
Following scenes of riots in Washington on Wednesday, Twitter had initially locked Trump out of his account for 12 hours after he tweeted several messages describing the people who stormed the US Capitol as “patriots”.
The company also warned him that his continued incitement could get him removed from the platform. Twitter has now suspended his account completely.
Twitter After hordes of Trump supporters broke into the Capitol building earlier this week, President Trump posted tweets stating: “We will never give up; we will never concede.”
The siege on the American political landmark took place after thousands of pro-Trump activists marched on Washington while the US Congress was attempting to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
Trespassing into the building, subsequent violence from far-right activists led to property damage and the deaths of four civilians and a police officer.
Twitter In a public statement posted on Twitter’s official blog, a representative for the company stated:
“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.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly.
“It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
WH / Supplied “However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
Other social media sites have also banned the Trump, as his term as president comes to an end. On Thursday, Facebook revealed it had”indefinitely” suspended Trump.
Facebook’s chief executive wrote. Mark Zuckerberg said the suspension would last much longer. “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.”
Gage Skidmore However, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowdon opposed the ban, tweeting that Facebook had “officially silence[d] the President of the United States.”
He wrote, “For better or worse, this will be remembered as a turning point in the battle for control over digital speech.”
Popular gaming platform Twitch also banned the 74-year-old political leader’s channel, on which his team broadcast campaign rallies, while Snapchat also removed his account and Shopify removed Trump’s stores from its platform.
In a similar response to recent developments, YouTube and Instagram removed some of Trump’s posts on their websites and apps.
