OAKLAND, Calif. – Twitter announced on Friday that it had permanently suspended President Trump “because of the risk of further incitement to violence”, effectively cutting him off from his favorite megaphone to reach the public and a range of actions to end mainstream sites in order to limit its online reach.
Twitter said in a blog post that Mr. Trump’s personal @ realDonaldTrump account, which has more than 88 million followers, would be banned immediately. The company said two tweets Mr Trump posted on Friday – one calling his supporters “patriots” and another saying he would not go to the president’s inauguration on Jan. 20 – violated his rules of glorifying violence.
The tweets “most likely encouraged and inspired people to repeat the criminal acts that took place in the US Capitol on January 6, 2021,” said Twitter, referring to the storming of the Capitol by a bunch of Trump loyalists.
Within minutes, Mr. Trump’s account on Twitter was no longer visible or accessible.
The move was a staunch rejection of Mr. Trump on Twitter, who had used the platform to build his base and spread his messages, which were often filled with falsehoods and threats. Mr Trump regularly tweeted dozens of times a day and sent a flurry of messages early morning or late evening. In his posts, he gave his live reactions to television news broadcasts, increased supporters, and attacked his perceived enemies.
“Twitter’s permanent suspension of Trump’s Twitter account is long overdue,” said Shannon McGregor, senior researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “This is the most important de-platform for Trump. The inability to tweet prevents his direct access to the press – and thus also to the public. “
The day before, Facebook had banned Mr. Trump for the remainder of his tenure, and other digital platforms – including Snapchat, YouTube, Twitch, and Reddit – recently restricted Mr. Trump to their services as well.
The actions were a strong example of the power of social media companies and how they could act almost unilaterally if they wanted to. Twitter, Facebook and other platforms had for years positioned themselves as defenders of free speech, saying that the posts of world leaders like Mr. Trump should be allowed because they were current. The companies had refused to touch his account even after being attacked for allowing misinformation and falsehoods.
Donald Trump Jr., Mr. Trump’s son, described Twitter’s move as “absolute madness” and said the tech companies were going too far. “We live Orwell’s 1984,” he tweeted.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, Mr Trump has repeatedly said to allies who have raised the possibility that social media companies would shut him out, “They will never ban me.”
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Jan. 7, 2021, 12:58 p.m. ET
The backlash against Mr. Trump online began Wednesday after his President-challenged loyalists breached the Capitol building. As a result, Twitter temporarily blocked Mr. Trump’s account, followed by Facebook. At the time, Twitter said the risk of having his comment live on its website had become too high.
The company said Mr Trump could return to his platform if he deleted multiple tweets containing falsehoods about the elections or calls for violence in violation of its guidelines. One of the tweets was a video Mr. Trump posted after police pushed the mob back where he told his followers, “We love you. You are something special. “
After Mr Trump cut those posts, he was put back on the site Thursday. Late Thursday he issued a conciliatory message saying he was outraged by the violence and would allow a peaceful change of power.
But Mr. Trump quickly returned to inflammatory tweeting on Friday, calling his followers “American patriots” who would have a “HUGE VOICE well into the future.” He also said he would not attend the inauguration on January 20.
Twitter said the news appeared to condone Wednesday’s violence and was likely to spark further violence. It added that the one via the inauguration offered the date as a target because Mr Trump would not be there.
The previous Friday, Twitter employees met via video conferencing to discuss the decision not to ban Trump immediately, as Facebook had, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Many employees are upset that Twitter did not permanently suspend Mr Trump, they said.
Emerson Brooking, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, said shutting down Mr Trump’s Twitter account was in some ways too late, given that Mr Trump has been spreading so many conspiracy theories on the platform over the past few years.
“Removing Trump from Twitter will not fix our policies, nor will it bring millions of Americans back to reality,” Brooking said. “But it makes it a lot harder for disinformation to go mainstream. And it makes it harder for Trump to reach his supporters. “
The suspension of Twitter could be a headache for the Trump administration when it comes to complying with the Presidential Records Act of 1978, which requires the retention of materials and communications from the President. This also includes tweets – which is why, for example, every tweet that President Barack Obama and his staff published on the @ POTUS account was permanently archived in a new account, @ POTUS44, after it was taken over by Mr. Trump.
Whether the requirement applies to tweets sent from both Mr Trump’s personal account and the President’s official account has been the subject of debate, but legal experts generally agreed that it should apply.
Maggie Astor and Maggie Haberman contributed to the coverage.
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