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Why Did Twitter Block Trump’s Account?
In a series of tweets, President Trump pushed the line between acceptable speech and threatening violence. The company blocked his account for violating its terms of service and threatening further violence. Read this article to learn more about the impact of de-platforming on free speech. We’ve also compiled a list of some of the tweets that pushed the line. Read on to learn why Twitter blocked Trump’s account and how you can help prevent it in the future.
Tweets pushed him over the line
As the country watches the inauguration of President Donald Trump, it’s easy to see why Twitter has blocked his account. The president often uses the platform to drive the news cycle, attack political opponents, announce new policies, and share conspiracy theories. Two of Trump’s subsequent tweets glorified violence, prompting Twitter to block his account. The decision to block Mr. Trump’s account could create headaches for the Trump administration.
On Wednesday, Twitter published fact-checks and warning labels based on the content of his tweets. Several tweets were found to incite violence, and Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours. On Thursday, Trump returned to Twitter after the inauguration in a video where he appeared to admit defeat. He also denounced the attack on Twitter. It’s unclear if Twitter will remove Trump’s account in the future, but this action was a step in the right direction.
Violations of company rules
According to two Facebook executives involved in the deliberations over suspending Trump’s account, the platform had no plans to permanently block Trump’s account. Facebook said it was considering a 24-hour suspension of the account, but did not say if it would be a permanent one. The social media site also removed a video addressing the “birtherism mob” that swept the U.S. Capitol. The video was reportedly intended to spread conspiracy theories about the president’s election.
Twitter’s decision to suspend the account was controversial, but the company’s decision was ultimately justified. The social media giant had flagged numerous Trump tweets as containing questionable information. The company provided links to its policy on posts by world leaders, as well as its process for identifying questionable content. Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment, but did not receive a response in time to publish the piece.
Threats of further incitement of violence
On Friday, Twitter suspended President Donald Trump’s account. The decision to suspend his account follows criticism that Twitter’s handling of Trump’s personal account has been inconsistent. The president has a record of tweeting misinformation to his 88 million followers. Twitter previously justified not suspending Trump’s account by citing his position as an elected official. Now, Twitter has acted to keep Trump from further inciting violence.
While Twitter is proud of its loosely policing policies, some of Trump’s tweets were clearly not protected by the First Amendment and should not have been posted. However, Twitter did not remove Trump’s tweets because of any legal concerns; the company has not publicly announced a reason for the suspension. However, the suspension of the account is a sign of its increasing sensitivity to the issue of policing and removing potentially inflammatory content.
Impact of de-platforming on free speech
De-platforming has both positive and negative effects on free speech, depending on the context. For instance, the practice can weaken a social movement or cause unrest if a prominent figure is de-platformed, as it serves as a shock for the network of supporters. It also delegitimizes the views of authoritative sources of information. Further, it can be used by movement leaders to reframe the process as censorship or evidence of the bias of mainstream media.
The use of de-platforming is not a quick fix for online extremism. Although de-platforming has halted the spread of election fraud misinformation, the process has caused a rapid drop in white supremacist content on popular social networks. De-platforming has also led Islamic extremists to migrate to lesser-known social networking sites. While the long-term impact of de-platforming is yet to be seen, it is a necessary and beneficial step in the fight against the rise of extremism.
