Well it took 1,440 days into his presidency but Twitter finally, and permanently, suspended President Donald Trump’s Twiitter account on Friday.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” the social media company said in a statement. “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
Twitter had originally suspended the 74-year-old’s account for 12 hours on Wednesday for “repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. But his silence didn’t last long. When his “time-out” was over, he jumped back on the social platform tweeting that 75 million “great American Patriots who voted for me” will have a “giant voice in the future” and “that they will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form.”
His final tweet before being suspended was an announcement that he did not plan to attend President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20.
Anticipating he may try to go around the rules, Twitter announced that if it were clear that another account is used for the purposes of evading a ban, it would also be subject to suspension.
“For government accounts, such as @POTUS and @WhiteHouse, we will not suspend those accounts but will take action to limit their use,” Twitter stated. “However, these accounts will be transitioned over to the new administration in due course and will not be suspended by Twitter unless absolutely necessary to alleviate real-world harm.”
Trump without Twitter? He wasn’t having it. As if on cue, just hours after the permanent suspension, the president began tweeting from the official account, @POTUS. Trump railed against the tech company, Democrats, what he referred to as the “radical left,” and Section 230, a law that gives internet companies the right to police their platforms as they see fit. Almost immediately, Twitter removed the series of tweets.
His campaign account @TeamTrump was also suspended after an attempt to send out a message from the president — a tweet that was also deleted.
Twitter’s decision followed Facebook’s move on Thursday to block Trump through January 20 and possibly indefinitely.
The bans come after the president incited a mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, disrupting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden as the President Elect. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, have been confirmed dead.
Boy Bye.
