Twitter on Fš“āriday took the unprecedented step of banning President Trumpās world-famous account from the platform āpermanentlyā ā less than two weeks before he leaves office.
āAfter close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them ā specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter ā we have špermanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,ā shortly afteź§ r 6 p.m.
The decision comes after Wednesdayās US Capitol siege iź§n which five people were killed when thousands of pro-Tź¦rump supporters unhappy with the election stormed Congress.
In explaining its decision, Twitter revealed, “Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021.”
āIn the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of theļ·½ Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,ā the statement continued.
āOur public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle tš¦©haš»t the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.ā
āHowever, we madš„e it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.ā
The historic decision leaves Trump without his main pulpit and Twitter without its most famous user. The commander in chief started this year with 88.6 million followers and 59,400 tweets — many of those announcing the firing of White House personnel and other diplomacy moves.
The presāØidentās team immediately fired-back, calling the move ādisgušøsting.ā
āDisgusting. Big Tech wants to cancel all 75M @realDonaldTrump supporters. If you donāt think theyāre coā±ming for you next, youāre wrong,ā .
Bušt Twitter is not the first social media company to ban the president in the wake of the violent episode.
On Thursday, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced he had banned Trump from using the platform until after he leaves office on Jan. 20, saying he had used his platform to “condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters.”
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,ā wrote Zuckerberg in a post on his personal Facebook account.
Twitter temporarily locked the presidentās account on Wednesday for tweets that appeared to glorify the invasion of the Capitol by his supporters who violently interrupted a joint sešØssion of Congress to confirm Joe Bidešnās win.
Trump was allowed back on the platform on Fridaą¶£y morning and fired-off an unapologetic missive saāØying his followers would not be silenced.
āThe 75,00ā0,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the futuą“re. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!ā he wrote.
He also said he would not be attending Bidenās Jan. 20ąµ© inaš²uguration.
It were these two tweets which triggered Twitterās decision to pešrmanenź§tly block the president, the platformās most prolific user.
ā[W]e have determined that these Tweets are išn violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service,ā the statement continued.
Earlier Friday, Twitter booted two of Trumpās allies, former Gen. Mike Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell, from the site for backing his cšlaims that election fraud handed victory to Biden.
Dozens of other followers of the fringe Q-Anon conspiracy theory were also bź¦¬arred.
Twitter began policing the presidentās tweets in the lead up to the election last year, slapping them with warning labels or maskingš“ them altogšether as he railed against Black Lives Matter protests or claims of election fraud.
The unprecedented censorship drew accusations of political bias frošm conservatives, leading to fiery big āØtech hearings on Capitol Hill.
Infuriated by the masking of his tweets, Trump went to war with social media companies and signed an executive order in May last year aimed at curtaš¬iling their Section 230 legal liability protections.
āA small handful of powerful social media monopolies had unchecked power to censure, restrict, edit, shape, hide, alter virtually any form of communication between private citizens or large public audiences,” the commander in chief said in an Oval Office address.
Supporters of the president pointed out the hypocrisy of Twitter’s ban, noting the fact that tweets from dictators like Iranās Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khšamenei calling for the dź¦°estruction of šIsrael were still online.
“Khamenei, Rouhani & Zarif’s Twitter accts are still active,” .
“Their regime pledges Death to America, calling us the Great Satan, Chinese Communist Party officials who say Coronavirus was sent to China by the US military aren’t suspended, but Twitter bans the President of the USA.”
: “Twitter turns a blind eye at Chinese propaganda and modern day slavery, but draws the line at the President of the United Statesā tweets.
So what options does the president have now? Conservative have begun using an alternative to Twitter called Parler, which was founded in August 2018 and claims to be a “free speech” an unbiased alternative to mainstream platforms.
On Friday, Kentucky Republican Congresšsman Thomas Massie to join him there.
“Iām ThomasMassie on Parler if @jackās social cleansing takes out my account here,” he wrote with the hashtag “#AllHailJack,” a reference to Twitter founder, Jack Dorsey.
Five people died in the Capitol break-in, including four Trump supporters and a US Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, 42, who reportedly was bludgeoned with a fire extinguisher.