New Delhi (NVI): Twitter has permanently suspended the account of US President Donald Trump, citing repeated violations of the company’s rules and risks including ‘further incitement of violence’.
“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 wrote in a blog post.
“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,” the company added.
Twitter’s decision was followed by two tweets by Trump on Friday afternoon.
The tweets violated the company’s policy against glorification of violence, Twitter said, and “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’s extraordinary decision comes two days after a mob of Trump supporters violently stormed the US capitol, wrecking havoc in an attack that has resulted in five deaths.
Even as the rampage continued, Trump tweeted in praise of the rioters, prompting Twitter to temporarily suspend his account, with a warning that any further infractions would lead to a permanent ban.
In addition to this, on Thursday, Facebook banned Trump from posting on its platforms at least through Joe Biden’s inauguration, citing the risk of inciting violence.
Other social media companies have scurried to de-platform Trump and his most violent supporters; Google removed the rightwing social network Parler from its app store.
-CHK
