President Trump will spend the last twelve days of his presidency cut off from Twitter completely after the company imposed a permanent suspension on his personal account on Friday because of the risk of “new incitement to violence.”
“After closely reviewing the recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context surrounding them, specifically how they are received and interpreted on and off Twitter, we have definitively suspended the account due to the risk of re-incitement to violence, ”the company said. he said in a blog post.
A Facebook source told The Daily Beast that a permanent ban on its platforms is “likely”, but not definitive.
Trump has used Twitter as his favorite megaphone during his presidency, using it to prevent aides from spreading misinformation, insults and false claims about election fraud.
The permanent suspension, which comes two days after it incited a violent crowd to advance to the Capitol, also follows a report on hundreds of Twitter members demanding action from CEO Jack Dorsey.
Seconds The Washington Post, hundreds of officials signed a letter demanding Trump’s final suspension and the launch of an investigation into how the platform itself helped fuel the January 6 events by acting as Trump’s “megaphone.”
The social media company had intensified oversight in recent months, adding labels on election misinformation and restricting engagement with some of Trump’s most brazen tweets.
But critics on and off the platforms have been advocating for years for the bill to be completely withdrawn, arguing that Trump’s transit of dangerous misinformation and incitement to violence outweighed any concerns about free speech. (“When the looting begins, the shooting begins,” he tweeted in May during the Black Lives Matter protests).
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) had urged the platform on Friday morning to implement a ban “in the interests of our national security and public safety.” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had been pushing for Trump to face a permanent Twitter ban since 2019, long before his rhetoric prompted supporters to act on Jan. 6.
“A lot of people could and predicted this would happen,” a Facebook source told The Daily Beast, referring to the riot at the Capitol that left an agreement between five people. “The possibility of it happening again was high, because this guy [Trump] is fucked up “.
The suspension is likely to profoundly reduce Trump. As reported by The Daily Beast, it seemed more legitimate to have been temporarily shut out of its Twitter account on Wednesday than in connection with the deadly riot that unfolded at the center of American democracy.
One source told The Daily Beast that Trump was furious that he couldn’t tweet, while another said he complained because it was proof that Big Tech was silencing conservatives and trying to help cover up the “crime” of the century. occurred during the 2020 presidential election.
Twitter explained that it was two of Trump’s last tweets that led to immediate action on Friday, as they violated the platform’s policy against the “glorification of violence.” On a Friday morning, he called his supporters “great American patriots,” who said they will have a “GIANT VOICE in the future,” which Twitter said could easily be seen as a boost for those who orchestrated the violence at the Capitol.
Even his tweet announcing his own plans not to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden kindled the flames by sending the message “that the elections were not legitimate,” he said on Twitter.
“In the context of this week’s horrific events, we made it clear on Wednesday that other breaches of Twitter rules could result in this same line of action,” Twitter wrote in the blog post along with the analysis of the Trump’s recent tweets.
While Trump can still use the government accounts @POTUS and @WhiteHouse, Twitter said, those accounts can also be suspended if it is clear that they are used to “evade the ban.”
Shortly after Twitter kicked off Trump on Friday, gaming site Discord said it had banned server “The Donald” because of its “open connection to an online forum used to incite violence and plan an armed insurrection “.
At the same time, Parler, the social networking site seen as a safe haven for MAGA fans, was suspended by Google Play due to its lack of moderation for posts aimed at “inciting continued violence” and gave it a maximum of 24 hours Apple is taking steps to reduce the content or remove it from the App Store. “We have received numerous complaints about nasty content on your Parler service, allegations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate and facilitate illegal activities in Washington DC on January 6, 2021 that resulted (among other things) the loss of lives, numerous injuries and the destruction of property, “Apple reported on the site.
And while many rejoiced at Friday’s news that they should no longer see Trump’s rambling and strange tweets, there was another unexpected end result: The daily show duly pointed out, eliminated Trump, perhaps Melania Trump’s BeBest campaign against cyberbullying has just seen its first success.
– Noah Shachtman and Asawin Suebsaeng provided reports