Washington: Outgoing US President Donald Trump has slammed Twitter for permanently suspending him, vowing that he and his support base would not be silenced. The unprecedented move by the California-based microblogging site on Friday comes after Donald Trump tweeted that he would not attend the inauguration of his successor Joe Biden on January 20.
“After a 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.
“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. 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,” it further said.
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
The microblogging site said that it will continue to be transparent around its policies and their enforcement. Shortly, after the suspension of his personal Twitter account, US President Donald Trump tweeted from his official @POTUS account but the tweets were taken down within minutes.
#UPDATE | After the suspension of his personal Twitter account, US President Donald Trump tweeted from his official @POTUS account but the tweets were taken down within minutes. https://t.co/eg5ovKvkxb pic.twitter.com/vaL4wKTkpT
— ANI (@ANI) January 9, 2021
At the time of permanent suspension, Trump had 88.7 million followers and followed 51 people.
In a statement hours after he was banned, Trump had said, “I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!”
“Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely. “STAY TUNED!”‘ he said, indicating some announcements in this regard are forthcoming.
“As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me? and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” he added.
“Twitter may be a private company, but without the government’s gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long,” Trump said.
A chaotic and violent scene erupted at the Capitol on Wednesday as supporters of Trump stormed the building to protest the Electoral College vote, forcing a lockdown and various confrontations with police.
Four people died in the melee. Wednesday`s violence came hours after Trump encouraged his supporters to fight against the election results as Congress was certifying Biden`s victory in the November vote.
Twitter had earlier blocked Trump`s account from posting on their platform after the protests broke out in Washington, while Facebook on Thursday suspended his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely.
Popular gaming platform Twitch has also banned Donald Trump`s official channel on its platform indefinitely. Twitter unlocked the president`s @realDonaldTrump Twitter account after Trump removed three rule-breaking tweets.
He returned to Twitter on Thursday with a video acknowledging that Joe Biden would be the next US President.
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