New York, USA (CU)_ US President Donald Trump said he will look into building his own social media platform after Twitter suspended his account on Friday, mentioning the possibility of more fuelling of violence following hundreds of his supporters attacking the US Capitol on Wednesday. After Twitter blocked his personal account, Trump sent the most recent tweets on his @POTUS account.
Three days after Trump called on thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol as Congress gathered to confirm his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, Twitter permanently terminated Trump’s personal Twitter account and access to his almost 90 million followers on Friday, quoting that there could be a possibility of another violence. The ensuing confusion left the world in shock and resulted in death of a police officer and four others during the attack.
Twitter said in a statement, “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”.
Trump’s prolific use of Twitter was a crucial part of his campaign where he overhauled the Republican Party and defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton to win the presidency in 2016. He has since used it to fire up his political base, criticizing those who were hostile to him. Twitter has long tolerated pressure to block Trump’s account. Following the close review of the president’s latest tweets, the company announced on Friday evening that it had permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.
Twitter’s statement 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 two controversial statements made by Trump that led to his account shut down are the following tweets. In the first tweet, Trump encouraged his supporters to protest, and in the second tweet, he indicated that he plans on avoiding Joe Biden’s inauguration.
In the first tweet, Trump said, “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
In the second tweet, he said, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Twitter said, “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 behaviour from this account in recent weeks.”
Following the account suspension, Trump then used the official @POTUS government to hit back Twitter, thanking the 75 million great patriots who voted for him. Trump said he was planning on creating his own social media network. He said, “We’re not going to be SILENCED!”.
