Why did Twitter decide to permanently ban Donald Trump's account?
SOCIAL NETWORKS The President's Twitter account, which was his main channel of communication, now displays a completely empty page
- Three days after the riots on Capitol Hill, orchestrated by pro-Trump activists, Twitter has decided to permanently ban the American president's account.
- To justify its decision, the social network points to two tweets from Donald Trump dated Friday, January 8, which can "incite violence" and which therefore violate its internal rules.
- "Our rules on the public interest exist to allow people to hear directly what elected officials and political leaders have to say (...) These accounts are not entirely above our rules", also indicated the platform.
"Account suspended" ... The Twitter account of the President of the United States, which was his main channel of communication, now displays a completely empty page. @realDonaldTrump was permanently suspended on Friday, three days after riots on Capitol Hill orchestrated by pro-Trump supporters. With more than 88 million subscribers, Twitter was until today Donald Trump's platform of choice, the one he used to make political announcements, rant against the media or insult his opponents on a daily basis.
"After a careful study of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and their context - including how they are understood and interpreted on and off Twitter - we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement to violence. Twitter explained, referring to the Capitol invasion, which left five dead.
Two messages targeted by the platform
To justify its decision, the social network points to two tweets, dated January 8. “The 75,000,000 great American patriots who voted for me, America First, and Make America great again, will have a giant voice in the future. They will not be looked down upon or treated unfairly in any way !!! Donald Trump tweeted. Depending on the platform, this message can incite “violence”. "We felt that they were likely to encourage and inspire people to reproduce the criminal acts that took place on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021", indicates the social network, which therefore believes that its internal rules have been infringements.
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.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
The platform also points to a second tweet, published a few minutes later. "To all who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on January 20," the US president also wrote on Friday. "President Trump's statement that he will not attend the inauguration is received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate," said Twitter, adding that the absence of the President Trump at the inauguration can make this ceremony a "safe target because he will not be present."
"Plans for future armed protests are already proliferating on Twitter"
Twitter also believes that these messages contradict the precedent in which Donald Trump claimed to want to facilitate an "orderly transition". On the contrary, it would be a sign that he "instead considers continuing to support, empower and protect those who believe they have won the election." "Plans for future armed demonstrations are already proliferating on and off Twitter, for a second attack on the Capitol on January 17, 2021", notes the platform.
"We will not be silenced," Donald Trump quickly protested via the official Potus (President of the United States) account, to the attention of the "75 million patriots" who voted for him. He spoke of retaliation against the network which "banned free speech" and the possible launch of his own platform in the near future, through a series of messages immediately withdrawn by Twitter. "Using another account to avoid suspension is against our rules," said a spokesperson for the company, which will also be taking steps "to mimic the use" of government accounts like @Potus and @WhiteHouse.
An account "not entirely above our rules"
The tweeting network had already toughened retaliatory measures on Wednesday, suppressing several messages from the head of state, instead of simply masking them with warning notes. Until this week - and the violence on Capitol Hill - Twitter had always assumed the fact of giving Donald Trump the possibility of not respecting the rules of use of the social network, like other leaders around the world, and this because of the "public interest" of their messages. “Our public interest rules exist to allow people to hear directly what elected officials and political leaders have to say (…) These accounts are not entirely above our rules, and they cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things, ”says the California company today.
Jack Dorsey's network was until Friday, along with YouTube, one of the few platforms where the US president could still express himself. Other social platforms have taken sanctions against the US president in the past 48 hours. After the violent demonstrations on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump was notably banned from Facebook and Instagram (his accounts were frozen indefinitely), Snapchat and even Twitch, the platform specializing in the broadcasting of live videos.
