Trump Loses 88.7 Million Followers As Twitter Permanently Suspends Account

Outgoing United States President, Donald Trump, has had his Twitter account with 88.7 million followers permanently suspended by the social media company. 

THE WHISTLER reports that Twitter is Trump’s favourite and strongest social media platform. The company had earlier placed a temporary restriction on the U.S. President’s account for allegedly inciting his followers into attacking the U.S. Capitol building ahead of Joe Biden’s certification as America’s next president by the U.S. Congress. 

A check on Trump’s account on Friday night showed that the micro-blogging site had permanently suspended him from the platform. 

Twitter announced in a blog post that the ban followed Trump’s repeated violations of its policies concerning civic integrity and threats of violence.

It partly reads, “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. 

“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. 

“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.” 

Twitter further revealed that the tweet that earned Trump the final ban was his announcement that he would not be attending the inauguration of Biden as President on January 20, 2020 and one other post. 

It said, “On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted: “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!!!”

“Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”” 

Meanwhile, the development came amidst Facebook’s ban on Trump’s account for similar reasons. 

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had said in a post on Thursday that his company was extending an initial ban placed on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely. 

THE WHISTLER further reports that the U.S. President currently has about 33 million followers on his Facebook, while his Instagram account has 24.6 followers. 

Zuckerberg had said, “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden. 

“His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence. 

“Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms. 

“Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”