Twitter suspends Donald Trump permanently

Twitter has suspended President Trump permanently from its platform according to a statement from the social media company.

Initially, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter temporarily had only suspended US President Donald Trump from their social media platforms following posts related to the Capitol invasion on Wednesday, 6 January 2020.

This is the first time in the history of the United States that social media accounts the account of the US President will be restricted.

Twitter’s recent decision to suspend the account permanently followed two tweets by Trump on Friday afternoon that would end up being his last.

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.”

“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,” Twitter said.

“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 first tweet was about Donald Trump‘s supporters.

“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!!!

The second indicated Trump did not plan to attend President-elect Joe Biden‘s inauguration.

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

See also: US election: Congratulations pour in for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after they defeat Trump and Pence at the polls

Twitter said the tweet concerning inauguration could be viewed as a further statement that the election was not legitimate. It also said that the tweet could be interpreted as Trump saying that the inauguration would be a “safe” target for violence because he would not be attending.

Trump’s other statement about American patriots suggested that “he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election,” Twitter said.

Twitter’s ban specifically addresses “the @realDonaldTrump account,” not Trump personally.