US President Trump is not allowed to tweet for at least 12 hours. The social medium has temporarily banned him for breaking the rules with inflammatory tweets. Chances are he will be banned for good.
The measure follows the president’s response to the violence in Congress today. He called on protestors to go home, but Trump also gave them a heart and spoke again about stolen elections.
Twitter initially limited the ability to share, like, or comment on the video. Shortly after, these and another follow-up tweet were removed and the president was banned.
“This is an emergency and we are taking the necessary measures,” explained a Twitter spokesperson. “We removed the video because it increased rather than reduced the risk of violence.”
First time
Twitter further explains that Trump will remain banned if he doesn’t delete the offending tweets himself. If he crosses the line again in the future, he could be permanently banned from the medium.
It is the first time that Twitter has taken such tough action against Trump. Until now, it was only warnings that the content of his tweets about voting fraud did not match the truth.
Twitter explained that it gives public figures more leeway than other citizens to facilitate political debate. The strictness of the action this time was due to today’s violence. “The limit of this policy is reached when there is a risk of injuries.”