In an unprecedented step, Twitter suspended the account of President Donald Trump for 12 hours Wednesday after he repeatedly posted false accusations about the election after his supporters stormed the Capitol following a Trump rally.
Twitter said that future violations by Trump would result in a permanent suspension.
Earlier in the day, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube all removed a short video from Trump in which he urged those supporters Wednesday to “go home” while also repeating falsehoods about the integrity of the presidential election.
Trump posted that video more than two hours after protesters entered the Capitol, interrupting lawmakers meeting in an extraordinary joint session to confirm the Electoral College results and President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
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Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, said on Twitter Wednesday that the video was removed because it “contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
Facebook’s vice president integrity Guy Rosen said: “This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
In a blog post on October 15, 2019, Twitter said that the accounts of world leaders are not above its policies entirely.
It listed out areas that will result in enforcement action for an account on its service.
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Prominent among them include the promotion of terrorism, clear and direct threats of violence against an individual, posting private information, such as a home address or non-public personal phone number; and posting or sharing intimate photos or videos of someone that were produced or distributed without their consent.
