President Trump will spend the last 12 days of his presidency entirely on Twitter, after the company imposed a permanent suspension of his personal account on Friday due to the risk of “further incitement to violence.”
“After a careful review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them – in particular how they are received and interpreted on and off Twitter – we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement to violence,” the company said in a blog post. .
A Facebook source told The Daily Beast that the permanent ban on their platforms is “likely”
Trump used Twitter as a favorite megaphone during his presidency, using it to bypass aides to spread misinformation, insults and false allegations of election fraud.
The permanent shutdown, which comes two days after he incited a violent mob to overtake the Capitol, also follows a report by hundreds of Twitter employees demanding action from CEO Jack Dorsey.
According to The Washington Post, hundreds of officials signed a letter demanding a temporary suspension of Trump and the launch of an investigation into how the platform itself helped the events of January 6, acting as “Trump’s megaphone.”
The social media company had tightened some surveillance in recent months, adding election disinformation labels and limiting engagement with some of Trump’s most pointless tweets.
But critics inside and outside the platforms have for years argued for the account to be completely taken down, arguing that Trump’s spread of dangerous misinformation and incitement to violence outweighs any fears of free speech. (“When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted in May during the Black Lives Matter protests.)
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) called on the platform on Friday morning to introduce a ban “in the interests of our national security and public safety.” Vice President-elect Kamala Harris insisted that Trump face a permanent Twitter ban from 2019, long before his rhetoric prompted supporters to take action on January 6.
“A lot of people could and could have predicted that would happen,” a Facebook source told The Daily Beast, citing the Capitol riot, which left a deal to five people. “The opportunity to repeat was great, because this man [Trump] is fucking crazy. “
The suspension is likely to push Trump deep. As The Daily Beast reported, he seemed more inflamed by the temporary blocking of his Twitter account on Wednesday than by the deadly riots unfolding in the heart of American democracy.
A source told The Daily Beast that Trump was furious that he could not write on Twitter, while another said he complained that this was evidence that Big Tech was silencing conservatives and trying to help cover up. the “crime” of the century that occurred during the 2020 presidential election.
Twitter explained that two of Trump’s latest tweets led to immediate action on Friday, as they violated the platform’s policy against “glorifying violence.” One Friday morning, he called his supporters “great American patriots” who he said would have a “GIANT VOICE long in the future,” which Twitter said could easily be seen as an encouragement to those who organized violence in the Capitol.
Even his tweet, in which he announced his own plans not to attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, ignited the flames by sending the message “that the election is not legitimate,” Twitter said.
“In the context of the horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that further violations of Twitter’s rules could lead to just that move,” Twitter wrote in a blog post, along with an analysis of Trump’s recent tweets.
Although Trump can still use government accounts at @POTUS and @WhiteHouse, Twitter said those accounts could be suspended if it became clear that they were being used to avoid a ban.
Shortly after Twitter gave Trump’s shoes late Friday, the Discord gaming site said it had banned the Donald server because of “the open link to an online forum used to incite violence and plan an armed uprising.”
At the same time, Parler, the social media site that is considered a safe haven for MAGA fanatics, was stopped by Google Play due to a lack of moderation for posts that seek to “incite continued violence” and was given a 24-hour Apple’s time to take action to reduce content or expulsion from the App Store. “We have received numerous complaints about spam in your Parler service, allegations that the Parler application was used to plan, coordinate and facilitate illegal activities in Washington on January 6, 2021, leading to (among other things) loss of life, numerous injuries and destruction of property, “Apple told the site.
And while many rejoiced at Friday’s news that they would no longer have to see Trump’s shocking and bizarre tweets, there was another unexpected end result: The daily show duly noted, after Trump’s removal, Melania Trump’s BeBest campaign against cyberbullying may have just seen its first success.
– Noah Schachtman and Asawin Suebsaeng contributed to the reporting
