Can Twitter delete Donald Trump's account?
The President of the United States regularly uses the social network to make shocking statements. A thorny question for Twitter.
Donald Trump might not have the biggest button, but he has the fastest response. On Tuesday, the President of the United States again used his Twitter account to poke fun at Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. “Kim Jong-un said he had a button to launch a nuclear weapon from his office. I hope someone on his poor and starving diet will tell him that I have a pimple like this too, but mine is much bigger and more potent. And let it work! ” he wrote. Nothing abnormal for this President of the United States, who is used to making thunderous statements on Twitter. Nevertheless, it is unheard of for a head of state and, above all, a potential danger to relations between the United States and other countries of the world. In September, another tweet from Donald Trump was considered a "declaration of war" by the government of North Korea.
Many people - politicians, activists and citizens - have already criticized this intensive use of Twitter by Donald Trump. Many criticize the indirect role of the social network, which via its platform provides a sounding board for the most shocking sentences of the President of the United States, and demand the deletion of his account. On Tuesday, protesters briefly posted the phrase "Jack [Dorsey, CEO of Twitter] is #complice" on the walls of Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. But can the social network really ban Donald Trump from his service?
Twitter HQ tonight pic.twitter.com/2XxcFJpt2I
— Juna (@junaleda) January 3, 2018
Yes, in theory
Like other Twitter users, Donald Trump must respect a number of rules laid down by the site. These prohibit a number of things: "We prohibit inappropriate behavior, including harassment, intimidation or the use of fear to silence another user's voice," said the social network. Regarding violence, it is “forbidden to express specific threats of violence or to wish death, disease or physical injury to a person or a group of people.” Targeted harassment, or incitement to harassment, is also prohibited. In the event of violations, Twitter reserves the right to request the removal of problematic content, to temporarily limit the possibility of posting tweets, or to permanently suspend an account.
Yes, because Donald Trump has already broken a certain number of rules
It is possible to consider that Donald Trump has already repeatedly broken the rules of Twitter. For example, in September, he reacted to statements made by the North Korean foreign minister at the United Nations podium: "If he echoes the thoughts of the little man with the rocket [nickname he gave Kim Jong-un, Editor's note], they won't be there very long! " This sentence has been interpreted by North Korea as a declaration of war. Donald Trump also regularly attacks the American media: in July, he published a video of him hitting a person representing the CNN television channel.
However, Twitter itself has regularly changed the rules, or the way they are applied, especially with regard to Donald Trump's practices. For example, when the American president shared anti-Muslim videos, published by an English far-right MP, the social network made the choice not to remove this content, which nevertheless targeted a specific community. And the author of the original tweet, Jayda Fransen, was banned from the site two weeks later.
Note that Donald Trump's account was deactivated, very briefly, in November. This action was taken by an employee of a third party company that moderates the content of Twitter. Few details are known about this affair: it was nevertheless qualified as an "error" by the responsible moderator as by the social network.
No, because Donald Trump is not a user like the others
After months of hesitating on this thorny question, Twitter has finally claimed that Donald Trump's tweets are not like the others, for several reasons. The social network first explained that the messages of the American president were of an informational nature, and that they could be kept online for this reason. Since December, a change of rules protects Donald Trump even more. The ban on the promotion of violence on Twitter no longer concerns “armies or entities representing governments”. So that includes the US president. In the case of the tweet published Tuesday evening, the social network also explained that this message was not a "specific threat".
Beyond this problem of rules, the Donald Trump case is also a matter of reputation for Twitter. One of its most famous users is the President of the United States. Thanks to him, the name of the social network is quoted daily in the media. Above all, to ban Donald Trump would be tantamount to drawing the wrath of the statesman and his supporters, and would provoke a violent debate on freedom of expression online, a particularly sensitive subject in the United States. Twitter has been facing criticism for its poor moderation for years, in addition to numerous financial and growth concerns. To avoid the Donald Trump problem, Twitter prefers the precarious balance rather than really settling.
