Twitter bans Trump, citing risk of violent incitement

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SAN ANSELMO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 08: The suspended Twitter account of U.S. President Donald Trump appears on an iPhone screen on January 08, 2021 in San Anselmo, California. Citing the risk of further incitement of violence following an attempted in

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SAN FRANCISCO - Twitter banned President Donald Trump's account Friday, citing "the risk of further incitement of violence" following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Twitter has long given Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But in a detailed explanation posted on its blog Friday, the company said recent Trump tweets amounted to glorification of violence when read in the context of the Capitol riot and plans circulating online for future armed protests around the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

The social platform has been under growing pressure to take further action against Trump following the Wednesday violence. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Trump's account through Jan. 20 and possibly indefinitely. Twitter merely suspended Trump's account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

Trump's Twitter persona has long functioned as a mix of policy announcements, often out of the blue; complaints about the media; disparagement of women, minorities and his perceived enemies; and praise for his supporters, replete with exclamation marks, all-caps, and one-word declarations such as "Sad!"

He has fired numerous officials on Twitter and his posts, like his speeches at rallies, are a torrent of misinformation.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Twitter declined to make CEO Jack Dorsey available and had no further comment. The official account for the President of the United States, (at)potus, remains live.

Shannon McGregor, an assistant professor of journalism and media at the University of North Carolina, said Twitter faced an easy call now that Trump is a lame duck and the company could try to curry favor with the incoming Biden administration. "He only has two weeks left in power and that certainly makes it easier to deplatform the president," she said.

In the Trump tweets cited by Twitter, Trump stated that he will not be attending the inauguration and referred to his supporters as "American Patriots," saying they will have "a GIANT VOICE long into the future." Twitter said these statements "are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so."

Twitter said its policy enables world leaders to speak to the public, but that these accounts "are not above our rules entirely" and can't use Twitter to incite violence. Trump had roughly 89 million followers. Twitter shares fell roughly 4% in after-hours trading, reflecting concerns that the Trump ban might reduce usage and advertising sales.

"They're discriminating against dangerous actions, not against thought," Lary Magid, CEO of ConnectSafely.org, and a member of Twitter and Facebook's advisory board, said. "People can still express their political beliefs, but they can't advocate things that could lead to violence. They can't harass. They can't bully. And that's different than saying no, you can't be on our platform. We don't like you political ideology," he added.

San Francisco-based digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, questions whether social media companies should bare the responsibility of protecting the public from potential violence, arguing elected officials should be more aggressive.

"If we think there's an agregious abuse of power by a government official, we don't want to leave it up to Twitter to address that," David Greene, Civil Liberties Director for EFF said.

Jonathan Greenblatt, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, said Friday that banning Trump was an "excellent step" and "a fitting end to a legacy of spewing hate and vitriol." The ADL was part of a coalition of civil rights and advocacy groups on Friday calling for Twitter to ban Trump's account.

Now that Trump has been knocked off one of his favorite pulpits, he may resort to other online channels such as Parler, a 2-year-old, more freewheeling alternative to Twitter that has become increasingly popular among the president's most ardent supporters. Many have used the forum to spread falsehoods and hateful comments.

But Parler, which was already tiny compared to Twitter, has bigger problems that could threaten its future. Google suspended Parler from its app store on Friday over continued postings that seek "to incite ongoing violence in the U.S." The company cited an "ongoing and urgent public safety threat" and said Parler won't be reinstated until the issues are addressed. 

Apple has issued Parler a similar warning and given it 24 hours to fix things.

While Trump may migrate to Parler, Gab or some other alternative site, doing so will greatly limit his influence, McGregor said. Trump has always craved legitimacy and standing in the mainstream media despite his complaints about normal reporting he has long referred to as "fake news." He won't get that on other platforms, she said.

On Friday, Twitter also permanently banned two Trump loyalists -- former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell -- as part of a broader purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Twitter said it will take action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm.

"Given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content," Twitter said in an emailed statement. The company also said Trump attorney Lin Wood was permanently suspended Tuesday for violating its rules, but provided no additional details.

Dozens of QAnon social media accounts were hyping up Trump's Jan. 6 rally in the heart of Washington, expressing hope that it could lead to the overturn of the election results.

Twitter explains that the president's most recent tweets violated their Glorification of Violence Policy.

Read the full Twitter blog here

KTVU's Emma Goss contributed to this story.