President Donald Trump will no longer be able to tweet using his @realDonaldTrump account as Twitter has decided to ban the account permanently.
In a blog post Friday, Twitter announced its decision to suspend Trump from its platform in the wake of Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol that many, including former President Barack Obama, have blamed on the outgoing president.
“After a 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 announced. “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.”
Twitter said Trump’s last two tweets Friday, including one that indicated he did not plan to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, violated its policy against the glorification of violence
“These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and how the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks,” the company said.
The site added that it wanted to give elected officials and world leaders a platform to share their thoughts with the people directly. However, Twitter stressed that it could not allow anyone to use the platform as a channel to incite violence.
“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open,” Twitter added. “However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
Twitter’s ban specifically addresses “the @realDonaldTrump account,” not Trump personally.
