On the evening of January 8th, local time, the U.S. social networking website Twitter issued a statement that it would permanently block President Trump’s personal account because of “concerning the risk of further inciting violence”.
The reporter browsed Trump’s personal Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) and saw that his account showed “account blocked”, all content was emptied, and Twitter search for Donald Trump no longer showed Trump’s personal account.
What did Trump do?
The Twitter company stated, “After carefully reviewing recent tweets and related issues of the Trump account, we have permanently banned the account for fear of further incitement to violence.” The statement also referred to the riots on Capitol Hill this week, saying that “we made it clear Wednesday that another violation of Twitter rules may lead to the current action”.
On January 6th local time, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Hill, triggering a reservation riot, which has killed many people. It is believed that the inflammatory nature of Trump’s remarks is the main reason for the riot.
That day, Twitter blocked Trump’s account for 12 hours.
Twelve hours later, Trump’s Twitter account was unblocked.
He immediately released a video statement condemning the violence on Capitol Hill and promising an orderly handover of power with Biden on January 20.
Screenshot of Trump’s video.
However, after that, Trump still posted several tweets, which eventually led to the Twitter company to block his account.
According to CNN, on the afternoon of January 8, Trump posted a tweet to supporters, saying, “vote for me, vote for the United States first, vote for the 75 million American patriots who make America great again, and will also have a strong voice in the future.
They will not be treated with any form of disrespect or injustice!!!”
He then posted a second tweet stating he would not attend Biden’s inauguration on January 20, “responding to everyone who asked me: I won’t attend the inaugural ceremony on January 20”.
Twitter said that these tweets of Trump violated the platform’s anti-glamoration of violence.
“The two tweets should be viewed in a broader context of the whole country. The president’s statements may have different interpretations from different audiences, including incitement to violence.”
Trump’s tweet about the inauguration may be considered as a “other statement” about the illegality of the election, or it may be interpreted as a “safe” target of attack because he will not participate personally.
And tweets about supporters mean that “he will continue to support, empower and protect those who think he has won the election”.
In response, Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said that the ban on Twitter was “disgusting”, “technology giants want to cancel Trump’s 75 million supporters” and “if you think they won’t come to you next, you’re wrong”.
According to the Capitol Hill, some radical supporters of free speech said that the permanent ban on the accounts of world leaders may set a precedent for censorship.
88 million followers of Twitter Big V
According to socialbakers, a website that tracks Trump’s Twitter account, as of the ban, Trump’s Twitter account had a total of 8,8776,124 fans and a total of 59,558 tweets.
After Biden won the U.S. presidential election, the question of how to deal with Trump’s Twitter account has been attracting attention. Some people worry that even if Trump, who has 88 million fans, may use this platform to exert a huge influence on American politics, and even use Twitter to organize and incite supporters.
According to BBC analysis, Trump has always liked to post on Twitter, which has also become the main news release platform during his four years in office.
Twitter also benefits greatly from Trump, because many users around the world go to the Twitter platform to keep abreast of Trump’s development.
But as Trump leaves office as he approaches, he is gradually treated as an ordinary public figure, and the supervision will become more and more strict.
BBC analyst James Clayton said, “But now the biggest question is, can Trumpism survive without the support of mainstream media platforms? Or will it disappear in the shadow of the Internet?”
In fact, at present, Twitter has only banned Trump’s personal account, but Trump also has several official U.S. government accounts to use, including the White House account with 26 million followers (@WhiteHouse) and the official account of the President of the United States with 33 million followers (@POTUS). ).
CNN said that according to a statement by Twitter, it has only banned Trump’s personal account, and it is not clear whether it will prevent Trump from registering a new account or use other official accounts of the United States government to post.
In addition to the Twitter platform, other social media platforms have also begun to take action against Trump’s account, according to the Capitol Hill.
On January 7th local time, Facebook announced that it would suspend Trump’s account access to Facebook and Instagram for at least until January 20, and possibly permanently.
Facebook founder Zuckerberg said, “We think it is too risky to let the president continue to use our services during this period.”
