Twitter has let Donald Trump get away with a lot, on the argument that he’s the president and his comments, no matter how many violate their rules, are always in the public interest. But on Wednesday, they decided he’d finally crossed a line. Trump’s account was suspended over a pair of tweets pertaining to his supporters violently storming the Capitol, trying to stop a joint session of Congress that sought to formally name Joe Biden the 46th president. The suspension only lasts 12 hours, and it requires the removal of the offending tweets.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970431039934464
Two Trump tweets were singled out as being too rich even for his special account. The first was a video in which he called for an end to the violence but spend most of the time repeating baseless voter fraud allegations, as well as praising the people who’d caused havoc — including a woman’s death — in the Capitol. The second found him doubling down on that praise, saying their actions were the result of the 2020 election not being overturned.
On top of suspending Trump’s account, they also issued a stern warning: Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.” The social media giant had previously stated that, soon as his presidency is over on January 20, Trump is no longer protected by presidential rules, suggesting his account may not last much longer than his presidency.
Twitter has been harder on Trump of late. Since the election, they’ve regularly flagged Trump tweets spreading misinformation about ballots. Moreover, the two tweets that prompted the suspension were removed from his feed.