After falsely claiming for months that the results of the presidential election is invalid and inciting his supporters to descend on Washington, D.C. on January 6, the day Vice President Mike Pence and Congress were scheduled to confirm President-elect Joe Biden as the country’s next POTUS, Twitter has finally “permanently suspended†President Donald Trump from the platform as of Friday
“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 posted on Friday. “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.â€
“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly,†the statement continued. “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.†You can read the platform’s full explanation of the decision here.
Twitter had temporarily suspended Trump’s account on Wednesday after the president continued to post inflammatory tweets in the wake of a pro-Trump mob swarming the Capitol while Congress was in session. In shutting down his account, Twitter follows in the footsteps of Facebook, Instagram, and several other platforms that also cut off his ability to post similar false, potentially violence-inducing remarks.
Update: After Twitter permanently suspended his account Friday, Trump tweeted from @POTUS in an attempt to get around the ban, accusing the platform of conspiring with Democrats and the “Radical Left†against him. Twitter quickly remove his tweets. The president later posted from @TeamTrump, leading to the account’s suspension.