Trump's Twitter Account Permanently Banned To Avoid "Further Incitement Of Violence"

In an explosive move that wasn't unexpected, Twitter has officially banned President Donald Trump's account. On Wednesday (January 6), the world witnessed the first invasion of America's Capitol by pro-Trump supporters following the "Stop The Steal" Rally led by the president. Thousands of people took over the congressional building as government officials were trapped inside before they were ushered to safety. One woman was shot and killed by Capitol police while three other rioters died from health-related issues. Yesterday, it was shared that a Capitol police officer had also succumbed to his injuries and passed away after being assaulted.

In response, Twitter suspended Trump's account for 12 hours while Mark Zuckerberg came forward to say that the president would be "indefinitely" barred from Facebook. Earlier today, Trump returned to Twitter to announce that he wouldn't be attending President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20 and to once again address his supporters. The president was criticized for not condemning the insurrection that shocked world leaders, so Twitter stepped in to remove him completely.

"After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," wrote the Twitter Safety account. "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," they continued. "However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement," they continued.

According to NBC News, Twitter held a tense meeting with employees today where they pleaded with top executives to take action. It didn't take long for "Thank you Twitter" to become a trend on the platform, so check out the posts below.

[via]