Twitter permanently suspends Trump’s account

Twitter said on Friday it has permanently suspended U.S. President Donald Trump’s account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

“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 statement.

“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.  Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly.  It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.”

The company said in its statement that two of Trump’s tweets on January 8 violated its glorification of violence policy.

In the first tweet that violated this policy, according to Twitter, 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!!!”

Twitter said in its assessment this tweet “is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition’ and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.”

In a separate tweet, Trump said: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Twitter said “Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate” and “also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending.”

Twitter had temporarily blocked Trump’s account earlier this week following the siege of Capitol Hill on Wednesday by pro-Trump protesters and warned that additional violations by the president’s accounts would result in a permanent suspension.

Twitter said it feared Trump’s most recent tweets were being interpreted as supporting the rioters and that plans for future armed protests had already been proliferating both on and off the platform, including a proposed attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on Jan. 17.

The suspension amounts to a ban: Trump can no longer access his account and his tweets and profile picture have been deleted.  Trump had 88.7 million followers prior to his suspension.

The White House did not immediately issue a statement in response to the permanent suspension.