UPDATED: Twitter Locks Account of President Donald Trump and Deletes Three Inciting Tweets
Update, 7:07 p.m. ET, January 6, 2021 – Twitter has deleted both of the Tweets identified in the story below. They also deleted a third Tweet, sent soon after 6 p.m. ET, which read: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciousl
Jericho Casper
Update, 7:07 p.m. ET, January 6, 2021 – Twitter has deleted both of the Tweets identified in the story below. They also deleted a third Tweet, sent soon after 6 p.m. ET, which read: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”
In a Tweet explaining their reasoning, the social medial platform wrote:
This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021
Trump Used Twitter to Continue to Incite Violent Capitol Breaches. How Will the Website React?
January 6, 2021 — As a mob of several thousand supporters for Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, delaying congressional count of the electoral votes certifying the presidential election of Joe Biden, social media giant Twitter faced increased pressure to restrict or delete the account of the president.
Trump, who incited protestors to storm the Capitol in a speech earlier on Wednesday, issued a number of Tweets following his speech, including two of which Twitter restricted users from liking, replying to, or Retweeting “due to a risk of violence.”
The first of these tweets – blasting Vice President Mike Pence – came at 2:24 p.m.
Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2021
The second of these was his three-minute video sent at 4:17 p.m., after Biden spoke to the nation and urged Trump to call on his supporters to leave the Capitol.
Trump’s video repeated his false claims of election fraud, but nonetheless encouraging the protestors to leave the Capitol. Twitter also restricted the Tweet “due to a risk of violence.”
Speaking to a mob of supporters and encouraging them to storm of Capitol
Several thousand protesters cheered on Trump and his baseless claims of election fraud at the “Save America Rally” near the White House on Wednesday morning ahead of Congress’ joint vote to count the 2020 presidential electoral votes.
“We will not let them silence your voices,” Trump told the protesters, who had lined up before sunrise to get a prime position to hear the president speak.
Escalating violence on Capitol Hill
Since this morning’s rally, the situation in Washington escalated dramatically. Directed by the president, the pro-Trump protesters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue and in fact storm the halls of Congress.
Protesters breached the Capitol building and quickly surrounded the House and Senate chambers. Many reporters recounted the melee and the violence, including tear gas, guns drawn and police officers barricading the door with guns drawn.
Members of the House were evacuated from the floor. The House and the Senate have both recessed as of publication.
Trump used Twitter to rally his supporters, previously and today
“See you in D.C.” the president Tweeted the morning of January 5, calling Trump supporters to the Capitol to oppose the certification of the election results.
After encouraging his supporters to march to Congress amid the electoral vote certification, the President sent the tweet criticizing Pence. The full tweet read, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
Trump followed with a tepid tweet at 2:38 p.m. encouraging people to “stay peaceful” and another at 3:13 p.m. saying that he was “asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence.”
Should Trump’s Twitter be shut down for incitement?
Many users of Twitter have begun calling for the platform to cut the outgoing president’s conspiracy-fueled pipeline for violating the platform’s content rules by inciting violence and racial agitation and spreading misinformation.
Twitter has committed to more stringent rules against peddling misinformation this year, like labeling false information as disputed.
Since the election, Twitter has repeatedly put that label on Trump’s Tweets. But unlike normal platform abusers, the company has refused to banish Trump outright because, because of their world leaders policy.
“If a Tweet from a world leader does violate the Twitter Rules but there is a clear public interest value to keeping the Tweet on the service, we may place it behind a notice,” reads the policy.
Twitter’s world leaders policy was codified last year and treats some rule-breaking tweets as newsworthy. But that designation will no longer protect Trump once he is a former president.
After Biden’s inauguration, when Trump is no longer deemed a ”world leader” and likely continues to break Twitter’s Terms of Service rules, the company may well give its most notorious user the permanent boot.
