Twitter finally slaps Donald Trump with a permanent ban
Twitter has joined several other platforms in permanently banning Trump over recent tweets, the company has announced. The decision comes only hours after Twitter unlocked Trump's account, which had been suspended due to three tweets in particular that the company said needed to be deleted. Twitter joins Facebook, Twitch, Snapchat, and a number of other platforms in banning the president.
Many have called on Twitter to suspend Trump's account over past months, citing repeated violation of rules, as well as the spreading of false information. It seems the attack at the US Capitol was a turning point for social media companies, which quickly removed recent videos in which Trump spread false claims about the election and seemingly encouraged his supporters to action.
It didn't take long before permanent bans on the president's accounts began rolling out, but Twitter was seemingly bucking the trend. That changed late on Friday night when the company suspended the account, deleting all of its content, and issued a statement on why it made this decision.
The company said, in part:
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.
Twitter cited the events at the US Capitol this week, as well as its warning on Wednesday that any additional violations of its rules could lead to a permanent ban. The company goes on to detail the specific content that jeopardized the account, including a tweet published on January 8, 2021, that read:
The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!
The president then tweeted that he will not be attending Biden's inauguration later this month. Twitter explains how these tweets led to the ban, stating.
...these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.