Twitter permanently suspended US president Donald Trump’s account on 8 January “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. It came after a violent insurrection at the US capitol building on 6 January.
Trump banned
On Wednesday 6 January, a violent pro-Trump mob stormed the US capitol. Five people died in the attack. Two days later, Trump tweeted:
The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!
This was soon followed by:
To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
In the context of recent events, Trump’s tweets violated the tech giant’s “Glorification of Violence” policy. Twitter suspended his account on the basis that his divisive words are likely to stir up further violence.
Twitter’s response says:
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 and cannot use Twitter to incite violence… We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.
The world reacts
MSNBC‘s Joy Reid was among those who celebrated the suspension of Trump’s account. She said that Twitter has finally accomplished “something three wives… and his entire White House staff have failed to do: shutting him the hell up”.
Twitter exploded, with some users expressing their jubilation:
AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA https://t.co/IboPtOuWcP
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) January 8, 2021
https://twitter.com/StephenSeanFord/status/1347869508677947393
Long time waiting to see this. It came at last. Good bye @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/rpcXgoNQbl
— 101 (@101comentarios) January 9, 2021
Others joked that Trump will be scrambling to gain access to Melania’s account:
How long before he tries the @FLOTUS account?
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 9, 2021
Donald tried to get on Melania’s Twitter but she told him the password was Barron’s middle name plus his birthday.
— Joe Faina (@faination) January 9, 2021
Some jested that the president might have to resort to using social networking sites of the past, such as Bebo:
https://twitter.com/Soxthewavingcat/status/1347836555881230339
Trump trying to open a bebo account #TrumpBanned pic.twitter.com/srXN8MtA5R
— Brydee 🖤 (@Bry_ellen_) January 9, 2021
All said and done, the president’s days of spreading fake news, supporting white supremacy, and inciting violence via Twitter are over. Let’s hope that this is the first of many consequences that Trump sees for his actions in office. It is now time for Congress to hold him to account in the real world.
Featured image via History in HD/Unsplash.
