Twitter Bans President Donald Trump's Account Permanently After Shopify Terminated POTUS-Affiliated Stores
KEY POINTS
- Twitter decided to ban the @realDonaldTrump account permanently "due to the risk of further incitement of violence"
- The suspension came after Trump's last two tweets Friday, one of which indicated he will not attend Joe Biden's inauguration
- Shopify also terminated all online stores affiliated with Trump for the same reason
President Donald Trump will no longer be able to tweet using his @realDonaldTrump account as Twitter has decided to ban the account permanently.
In a blog post Friday, Twitter announced its decision to suspend Trump from its platform in the wake of Wednesday's riot at the Capitol that many, including former President Barack Obama, have blamed on the outgoing president.
"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 announced. "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."
Twitter said Trump's last two tweets Friday, including one that indicated he did not plan to attend Joe Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20, violated its policy against the glorification of violence
"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," the company said.
The site added that it wanted to give elected officials and world leaders a platform to share their thoughts with the people directly. However, Twitter stressed that it could not allow anyone to use the platform as a channel to incite violence.
"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," Twitter added. "However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement."
Twitter's ban specifically addresses "the @realDonaldTrump account," not Trump personally.
Twitter was not the first to ban Trump from their platform following the violence at the Capitol that resulted in five deaths and multiple arrests. Shopify also announced earlier that it terminated all online stores affiliated with Trump for the same reason.
"Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence," the company's spokesperson told ABC News in a statement. "Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause. As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump."
Some social media users felt that the move was "too little, too late," but many were still thankful that the Canadian e-commerce company made the decision.
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