Trump allowed back onto Twitter

• Posted on January 8, 2021January 8, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

US President Donald Trump has been allowed to Tweet again, after being locked out of his account for 12 hours.

Posting a more conciliatory message, he refrained from reiterating false claims of voter fraud.

Twitter said that it would ban Mr Trump “permanently” if he breached the platform’s rules again.

The move from Twitter puts clear water between it and Facebook, which suspended him “indefinitely” on Thursday.

Twitter has instead given the outgoing president a final warning.

Earlier on Thursday, the popular gaming platform Twitch also placed an indefinite ban on Mr Trump’s channel, which he has used for rally broadcasts.

Mr Trump tweeted several message on Wednesday, calling the people who stormed Capitol Hill “patriots”. He also said “We love you.”

A spokesperson for Twitter said: “After the Tweets were removed and the subsequent 12-hour period expired, access to @realDonaldTrump was restored.

“Any future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

Facebook

Earlier in the day, the president was suspended from Facebook and Instagram. That suspension will be reviewed after the transition of power to Joe Biden on 20 January.

The social network had originally imposed a 24-hour ban after the US Capitol attack.

Facebook’s chief, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote that the risks of allowing Mr Trump to post “are simply too great”.

Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook had removed the president’s posts “because we judged that their effect – and likely their intent – would be to provoke further violence”.

He said it was clear Mr Trump intended to undermine the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

“Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” he wrote.

Twitter ban

Mr Trump’s favoured platform, Twitter, suspended the president for 12 hours on Wednesday.

The company said it required the removal of three tweets for “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy”.

It said the president’s account would remain locked for good if the tweets were not removed.

Twitter has now confirmed the offending tweets have been removed, and he is free to tweet again.

Snapchat also stopped Mr Trump from creating new posts, but did not say if or when it would end the ban. YouTube also removed Wednesday’s video.

The president’s supporters stormed the seat of US government and clashed with police, leading to the death of one woman.

The violence brought to a halt congressional debate over Democrat Joe Biden’s election win.

In the House and Senate chambers, Republicans were challenging the certification of November’s election results.

Before the violence, President Trump had told supporters on the National Mall in Washington that the election had been stolen.

Hours later, as the violence mounted inside and outside the US Capitol, he appeared on video and repeated the false claim.