The twitter account of United States President Donald Trump has been permanently suspended by the social media company because of the risk of further incitement of violence after the US Capitol was stormed by his supporters last week, the social media company has said.
There were more than 88 million followers on Twitter for trump and the suspension effectively ends the primary megaphone days for the outgoing president days before he is to hand over power to Joe Biden. Twitter’s decision also follows years of debate about how social media companies should handle accounts of global leaders.
"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," the company said in a tweet.
The company confirmed that this is the first occasion that it has banned a head of state on its platform.
With respect to taking action against Trump as well as against some of his prominent right-wing allies and supporters, various social media companies have been swift in the wake of the debacle at Capitol Hill in Washington last week. That incident had caused five deaths.
Twitter and other social media platforms have been repeatedly used by Trump to claim that his defeat in the November 3 presidential elections was because of widespread voter fraud. He also regularly shares other conspiracy theories and had urged his supporters to come to Washington on Wednesday last week and then march on the Capitol as a mark of protest against the election result.
The largest social media platform of the world Facebook had announced earlier in the week that trump’s account would be suspended from the platform until at least the end of his presidential term.
The Republican president is due to hand over to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
The outgoing US president had violated its policy against the glorification of violence in at least two tweets made from his account, Twitter said in a blog post.
Last Wednesday after the siege of Capitol Hill, Trump's account had been temporarily blocked Twitter and had also warned that it would permanently delete the president’s account if there was additional violations of its policies.
For unblocking his account, Trump was required to delete three tweets that violated the social media platform’s policies. Trump’s next tweet after unblocking was a video in which he acknowledged that the next president of the US would be Biden.
The tweet by Trump that he would not be present at Biden's inauguration was being viewed by his supporters that the presidential elections in November was not legitimate, Twitter said.
The social media company also said that another Trump tweet that praised "American Patriots" and said that his supporters "will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!" could also be viewed as "further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an orderly transition."
Twitter’s move was praised by the critics of major social media platforms, including top Democratic politicians, who said that such moves were long overdue. Trump supporters on the other hand expressed outrage.
The ban was criticised by the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., in a tweet on Friday in which he said that twitter had not banned the accounts of dictators who had threatened genocide. He however did not provide any names.
There was no direct comment on the Twitter decision by the White House. The company was however criticised by the Trump campaign's Twitter account and said that the company had effectively silenced the president of the United States.
(Source:www.ndtv.com)
There were more than 88 million followers on Twitter for trump and the suspension effectively ends the primary megaphone days for the outgoing president days before he is to hand over power to Joe Biden. Twitter’s decision also follows years of debate about how social media companies should handle accounts of global leaders.
"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," the company said in a tweet.
The company confirmed that this is the first occasion that it has banned a head of state on its platform.
With respect to taking action against Trump as well as against some of his prominent right-wing allies and supporters, various social media companies have been swift in the wake of the debacle at Capitol Hill in Washington last week. That incident had caused five deaths.
Twitter and other social media platforms have been repeatedly used by Trump to claim that his defeat in the November 3 presidential elections was because of widespread voter fraud. He also regularly shares other conspiracy theories and had urged his supporters to come to Washington on Wednesday last week and then march on the Capitol as a mark of protest against the election result.
The largest social media platform of the world Facebook had announced earlier in the week that trump’s account would be suspended from the platform until at least the end of his presidential term.
The Republican president is due to hand over to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
The outgoing US president had violated its policy against the glorification of violence in at least two tweets made from his account, Twitter said in a blog post.
Last Wednesday after the siege of Capitol Hill, Trump's account had been temporarily blocked Twitter and had also warned that it would permanently delete the president’s account if there was additional violations of its policies.
For unblocking his account, Trump was required to delete three tweets that violated the social media platform’s policies. Trump’s next tweet after unblocking was a video in which he acknowledged that the next president of the US would be Biden.
The tweet by Trump that he would not be present at Biden's inauguration was being viewed by his supporters that the presidential elections in November was not legitimate, Twitter said.
The social media company also said that another Trump tweet that praised "American Patriots" and said that his supporters "will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!" could also be viewed as "further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an orderly transition."
Twitter’s move was praised by the critics of major social media platforms, including top Democratic politicians, who said that such moves were long overdue. Trump supporters on the other hand expressed outrage.
The ban was criticised by the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., in a tweet on Friday in which he said that twitter had not banned the accounts of dictators who had threatened genocide. He however did not provide any names.
There was no direct comment on the Twitter decision by the White House. The company was however criticised by the Trump campaign's Twitter account and said that the company had effectively silenced the president of the United States.
(Source:www.ndtv.com)
