Twitter has permanently suspended President Donald Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the social media platform announced on Friday (Jan. 8).
The microblogging platform, in a blog spot on Friday, said it took the decision after review of Trump’s recent tweets which violated its “Glorification of Violence Policy”.
The move comes two days after a crowd of Trump-supporting rioters violently clashed with law enforcement, storming the U.S. Capitol and sending the building into lockdown. At the time, Twitter and Facebook imposed temporary freezes on the president’s account.
“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.
On Wednesday, it locked out Trump for 12 hours for “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” after he had used his handle to mobilise his supporters who invaded Capitol Hill, while the congress was certifying the victory of Joe Biden, president-elect.
After the restriction, Trump, on Friday, tweeted a video condemning the violence at Capitol Hill.
He also tweeted that: “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!!!”
In another tweet, he wrote: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
The company said the two recent tweets of Trump were assed under the “Glorification of Violence policy”, adding that due to the current political situation in America, the tweets can incite violence.
“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 6, 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 said.
“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.”
