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Saturday, January 09, 2021, 14:26
Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account
By Reuters
Saturday, January 09, 2021, 14:26 By Reuters

This Jan 8, 2021 image shows the suspended Twitter account of US President Donald Trump. (AP)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - Twitter permanently cut off US President Donald Trump’s personal account and access to his nearly 90 million followers late on Friday, citing the risk of further incitement of violence following the storming of the US Capitol on Wednesday by hundreds of his supporters.

"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 company said in a tweet. 

Trump later used the official @POTUS government to lash out at Twitter, addressing the 75 million “great patriots” who voted for him: “We will not be SILENCED!” Trump said he was considering building his own social media platform.

Twitter quickly deleted those posts and soon after suspended the Trump campaign account.

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

Social media companies have cracked down on Trump’s accounts in the wake of the turmoil on Wednesday. Facebook Inc said earlier this week it was suspending his account through until at least the end of his presidential term.

The Republican president is due to hand over to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on Jan 20.

The White House did not immediately comment.

READ MORE: World stunned by Trump supporters storming US Capitol

In a blog post on Friday, Twitter said that two of the president’s tweets posted that day were in violation of its policy against the glorification of violence.

Twitter had temporarily blocked Trump’s account, which had more than 88 million followers, on Wednesday following the siege of Capitol Hill, and warned that additional violations by the president’s accounts would result in a permanent suspension.

Twitter said that Trump’s tweet that he would not be attending Biden’s inauguration was being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the Nov 3 election that he lost was not legitimate

Trump was required to delete three rule-breaking tweets before his account was unblocked. He returned to Twitter on Thursday with a video acknowledging that Joe Biden would be the next US president.

Twitter said that Trump’s tweet that he would not be attending Biden’s inauguration was being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the Nov 3 election that he lost was not legitimate. 

It said another tweet praising “American Patriots” and saying his supporters “will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” could be seen as “further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an orderly transition.”

Trump’s personal @realDonaldTrump account has sometimes fired off more than 100 tweets a day and been used to communicate with his supporters, spread misinformation, insult opponents and fire staff.

ALSO READ: Trump faces threat of 2nd impeachment after Capitol chaos

Both Twitter and Facebook have long afforded Trump special privileges as a sitting elected world leader, saying that tweets that may violate the company’s policies would not be removed because they were in the public interest.

They said he would lose access to those privileges upon leaving office, however.

Preparations take place for US President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on the West Front of the US Capitol in Washington, Jan 8, 2021, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building. (PATRICK SEMANSKY / AP)

Google suspends Parler from Play Store

Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday suspended the Parler social networking app from its Play Store until the app adds “robust” content moderation while Apple Inc gave the service 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan.

For us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content. In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.

Google 

Parler is a social network to which many supporters of Trump have migrated after being banned from services including Twitter.

In a statement, Google cited continued posts in the Parler app that seek “to incite ongoing violence in the US.”

Google said, “For us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content. In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues.”

In a letter from Apple’s App Store review team to Parler seen by Reuters, Apple cited instances of participants using the service to make plans to descend on Washington, D.C., with weapons after a mob stormed the US Capitol building on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Trump vows 'orderly transition' to Biden after Capitol clashes

“Content that threatens the well-being of others or is intended to incite violence or other lawless acts has never been acceptable on the App Store,” Apple said in the letter.

Apple gave Parler 24 hours to “remove all objectionable content from your app ... as well as any content referring to harm to people or attacks on government facilities now or at any future date.” The company also demanded that Parler submit a written plan “to moderate and filter this content” from the app.

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