Donald Trump no longer has access to his beloved Twitter. As of Friday at 6:20 p.m. ET, his account has been permanently suspended.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a statement.
“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. However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.”
After Trump urged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol earlier this week, Twitter temporarily suspended his account for 24 hours and warned that any further provocations could result in a permanent ban. Twitter says the two tweets posted by Trump earlier on Friday did just that; in one tweet, Trump said his supporters would “not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” In a follow-up posting, Trump announced he would not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks,” Twitter argued. “After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.”
Due to the events of Wednesday, Trump is also banned from using Facebook and Instagram for the duration of his presidency — which officially ends on January 20th.
This is a developing story…
