The social network Twitter has permanently suspended the United States President Donald J. Trump’s verified account following Wednesday’s violent riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“After a detailed review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the surrounding context, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement to violence,” the social network said in a tweet.
Last Wednesday, the social network took an unprecedented measure and eliminated comments from the US President relating to claims of alleged fraud that stole the victory in the US presidential election.
“In the context of this week’s horrific events, we made it clear Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules could result in this same course of action. Our public interest framework exists to allow the public to hear directly from elected officials and world leaders. It is based on the principle that people have the right to have the power to be openly accountable, ”Twitter said today in a statement.
“However, we made it clear years ago that these accounts are not completely above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent about our policies and their application,” he added.
The social network named several factors that influenced the decision to suspend the account, among which are alleged plans that have begun to proliferate on and off Twitter about future armed protests by President Trump supporters, including a proposed secondary attack on the Capitol and federal government buildings on January 17, 2021.
It also indicated that the latest tweets by the outgoing president and his use of the words “American patriots” are interpreted as support for those who commit violent acts on the United States Capitol, as well as his insistence on mentioning an alleged fraud in the elections.
“The mention of his supporters having a ‘GIANT VOICE long into the future’ and that ‘They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!’ is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition’ and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election,” read the statement on Trump’s penultimate tweet.
The US president’s permanent suspension comes days after Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours, requiring the removal of three recent tweets “for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.” Twitter also warned further violations of its policies would result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account at the time.
“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” Twitter said. “This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.”
The next day, President Trump condemned the acts of violence on Capitol Hill stating that there would be an orderly transition of power in the coming weeks. In a recorded message on Twitter, he reversed his previous stance, saying those same supporters did “not represent our country”.
“The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy,” Trump said reading his speech from a teleprompter in his recorded message on Thursday. “To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”
In addition to Twitter’s ban, Facebook also announced through a post by Mark Zuckerberg that President Donald Trump would be banned “indefinitely” from its platforms following the rioting at the U.S. Capitol the President incited.
