Twitter Permanently Bans President Trump
WASHINGTON (AP/WJZ) -- Twitter is permanently banning President Donald Trump from its platform, the company announced late Friday.
The ban comes days after Twitter temporarily locked Trump's account.
"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," the company said in a statement.
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Twitter has long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors.
But in a lengthy explanation posted on its blog, the company said recent Trump tweets amounted to the glorification of violence when read in the context of the Capitol riot and plans circulating online for future armed protests around the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
In those tweets, Trump stated that he will not be attending the inauguration and referred to his supporters as "American Patriots," saying they will have "a GIANT VOICE long into the future."
Twitter said these statements "are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so."
Trump has also used Twitter to criticize lawmakers and their respective cities. In July 2019, Trump tweeted about Baltimore, while criticizing Rep. Elijah Cummings and his congressional district.
Trump called Maryland's 7th District a "rat and rodent-infested mess and also tweeted that no human would want to live there.
Twitter is the first social media account to permanently bar Trump from their platform.
Earlier in the week, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch and Snapchat all temporarily disabled Trump's accounts for "inciting violence."
