Social media giant, Twitter has permanently banned the United States President, Donald Trump from using its platform to decimate information
Trump, who had over 85 million followers on his account – @realDonaldTrump – has been accused of using the platform to invite violence following his presidential defeat by Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump was banned from the account two days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol leaving five people dead, including a police officer.
He was earlier banned from using Instagram and Facebook.
Twitter said: “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 ban comes after the president incited a mob that broke into the US Capitol building, disrupting Congress’ certification of Joe Biden as the President Elect.
Twitter initially put a 12-hour ban on Trump’s account for “repeated and severe violations of our civic Integrity policy” after he posted messages repeating unsubstantiated news that the election was stolen.
At the time, Twitter said Trump would be banned permanently if he continued to violate its rules, including those around civic integrity or violent threats.
On Thursday, Facebook put an “indefinite” ban on Trump that it said would last at least through Inauguration Day.
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg said the risks “are simply too great” to allow Trump continue access after he used the platform to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
For years, Twitter has faced pressure to remove Trump from its platform due to the large megaphone it’s offered him to spread hateful language and lies. The company justified his continued presence on the platform as being in the public interest.
