Twitter Has Locked Trump's Account

On Wednesday evening, the Twitter Safety account announced that they were requiring the removal of three tweets posted earlier today for being "severe violations of our Civic Integrity Policy." Twitter also warned that future violations of the policy would result in his account being permanently banned.

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"The account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked," they wrote. "Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account."

The company then went on to say that while previous Trump tweets — like his posts glorifying violence against Black Lives Matter protesters — weren't removed due to a rule giving special treatment to statements made by world leaders, they had decided that "the risk of harm [was] higher and/or more severe" in this particular case.

"Our public interest policy — which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years — ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher and/or more severe," they added. "We'll continue to evaluate the situation in real time, including examining activity on the ground and statements made off Twitter. We will keep the public informed, including if further escalation in our enforcement approach is necessary."

Earlier today, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter reportedly took down a video in which Trump told his violent supporters to "go home," before calling them "very special" and repeating unfounded claims that the election had been "stolen." Twitter also deleted tweets that called the rioters "great patriots" and criticized Vice President Mike Pence for not supporting him during Congress's debate about Joe Biden's electoral college win.

See Twitter's statement, below.

This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

Our public interest policy — which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years — ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher and/or more severe.
https://t.co/ZcbhDEAYjH

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

We’ll continue to evaluate the situation in real time, including examining activity on the ground and statements made off Twitter. We will keep the public informed, including if further escalation in our enforcement approach is necessary.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

Photo via Getty