THE TWITTER account belonging to President Donald Trump will become subject to the same rules required of other users, including bans, when Joe Biden takes office.
Like other world leaders, the account @realDonaldTrump currently enjoys special privileges under the company’s 2019 public interest policy – which allows rule-breaking content to remain online if there’s “a clear public interest value.”
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The Twitter account @realDonaldTrump will lose its protection privileges when Joe Biden takes officeCredit: Reuters
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Twitter confirmed that Trump will be subject to suspension and bans for violating its policiesCredit: Reuters
However, Trump’s account will be required to obey bans on inciting violence and posting false information about voting or the coronavirus pandemic, The Verge confirmed.
“Twitter’s approach to world leaders, candidates, and public officials is based on the principle that people should be able to choose to see what their leaders are saying with clear context. This means that we may apply warnings and labels, and limit engagement to certain tweets,” a Twitter spokesperson told the outlet.
They continued: “This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions.”
Trump’s news-making posts have routinely come under scrutiny from tech companies like Twitter and Facebook – which in turn have faced criticism from conservatives over claims of censorship.
The social media giants have often posted warning labels on posts from the president, especially as Trump ranted with false and baseless accusations of voting fraud.
In just the 24 hours after it was revealed that Biden had become President-Elect of the United States, Twitter had flagged six different posts from Trump.
Twitter’s notice under the president’s tweets reads: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”
Several of the president’s tweets before the election had been called have been hidden from view as Twitter branded the content “disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.”
This summer, Twitter censored Trump for a tweet that “violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.”
In the tweet, Trump said: “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
Trump’s campaign account, not his personal one, was temporarily prevented from tweeting until it removed a clip with coronavirus misinformation.
The Team Trump account had shared a clip from a Fox News interview in which the president claimed that children are “almost immune” from Covid-19.
In a statement obtained by the Washington Post, Twitter spokeswoman Liz Kelley said the campaign’s tweet “is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again.”
The tech giants have often struggled with how to handle tweets from the president.
In 2017, Twitter received criticism for not responding to a tweet many claimed violated policies of encouraging violence. In the tweet, Donald Trump is pictured in a video wrestling with a man labeled as “CNN.”
#FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017
Twitter specifically addressed calls to ban Trump from the social media site in January 2018, The Verge reported at the time.
“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate,” the company had said in a blog post..
The president also faces legal woes once he leaves office, including lawsuits for defamation from E. Jean Carroll and Summer Zervos – who have accused Trump of rape and sexual misconduct.
Along with his time in the White House, President Donald Trump’s special status on Twitter will soon end.
As a world leader, Trump’s tweets have been allowed to violate some of Twitter Inc.’s TWTR, +0.16% policies that would have gotten regular users suspended or even banned, since, as president, what Trump says is “public interest.”
“Twitter’s approach to world leaders, candidates, and public officials is based on the principle that people should be able to choose to see what their leaders are saying with clear context. This means that we may apply warnings and labels, and limit engagement to certain Tweets,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement Saturday.
However, “This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions.”
Trump has had a number of tweets hidden and flagged in recent weeks, with Twitter citing them as “disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” After he’s out of office, similar tweets could be removed by Twitter.
For example, Trump tweeted nine times Saturday, as of 8 p.m. Eastern; four of them were hidden and two more were flagged for potential misinformation.
Twitter may handle tweets like those differently after Jan. 20, when President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Election or voting misinformation, promoting violence and posting private information are all subjects that have gotten Trump tweets flagged in recent months, but could result in more serious measures once he’s once again a private citizen.
A number of Trump allies have been banned or permanently suspended for violating Twitter’s standards, including radio host Alex Jones and former White House strategist Steve Bannon.