Twitter and Facebook both suspended Trump‘s account after a violent break-in at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
Trump previously told protesters on social media that he “loves you” and asked them to go home, but did not condemn the violence and still claimed he was a victim of election fraud.
Twitter said it hopes Trump will delete three posts that “seriously violate the terms of use” and will permanently shut down his account if he doesn’t or continues to violate Twitter rules.
Facebook and Instagram also suspended Trump’s account for 24 hours, and YouTube deleted videos of Trump speaking to protesters.
The president who loves to tweet
Trump is partial to using social media to express his views and post messages, and he often tweets and other social media platforms to express some of his views on other politicians, celebrities and current news.
Since Trump ran for president on behalf of the Republican Party, he has amassed a large following on Twitter, with a total of more than 88 million followers to date.
Since Trump became president, his tweets have become almost an official channel of communication for the president of the United States, bypassing the White House press secretary and becoming a new way of communicating directly with people.
But the way things are going, it will be hard to see Trump continuing to tweet in his usual controversial style.
What terms are being violated?
Technically, Twitter only suspended Trump’s account and said he could continue to use it if he deleted the three tweets in question.
But Twitter also said it would permanently shut down the @realDonaldTrump account if it continued to violate Twitter rules in the future.
The problem is that with Trump’s style of tweeting, it’s only a matter of time before the rules are violated again.
Twitter’s terms of civic use state that “users may not use the Twitter service to manipulate or interfere with elections and other civic matters.”
Trump’s frequent tweets suggesting massive election fraud, but failing to produce evidence, clearly violate Twitter’s aforementioned terms of use.
Why not shut it down sooner?
Simply put, it’s Trump’s prerogative as president, and Twitter has rules that apply more specifically to world leaders.
Twitter believes that it is in the interest of the entire public to let the president speak freely at certain times, so it has not shut down Trump’s account during his presidency, even though he has often made controversial statements on Twitter.
But this time Trump seems to have crossed the red line, as his comments on social media were seen as adding fuel to the fire of the protesters, eventually leading to a situation that got out of hand and even loss of life.
Predictably, once Trump steps down from the presidency and becomes an ordinary civilian, the Twitter privileges he enjoys will disappear along with him.
What are the options?
The rules for using other social media are roughly the same, and as soon as Trump becomes a civilian, he will be unceremoniously shut down if he violates the rules by making inflammatory comments or extremism.
At the same time, Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms want to show the ability of social media self-management to the outside world, and taking Trump is the best opportunity to do so.
Trump has two choices, he can comply with the rules of Twitter like the rest of the general public, or leave this highly influential social media platform.
But Trump has never been one to follow rules and regulations, so it’s hard to see how he can continue to exist on Twitter after he leaves the White House.
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