UPDATE: Jan. 6, 2021, 5:43 p.m. PST This post was updated to include Facebook blocking Trump for 24 hours.
Donald Trump better shape up, or Twitter might have to actually do something about it. For real this time.
So warned the social media company Wednesday after a day which saw Donald Trump use Twitter to seemingly encourage violent extremists storming the U.S. Capitol building. In an announcement shared (where else) on Twitter, the company said it had temporarily locked Trump’s Twitter account and laid out the conditions under which it would permanently suspend the President.
Soon after, Facebook announced it had banned Trump from posting to his Facebook profile for 24 hours.
“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” Twitter wrote in a tweet. “This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets.”
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
The three tweets in question included a wild video in which Trump falsely claimed the election “was stolen.”
We reached out to Twitter to confirm that Trump’s account is currently locked, at least for 12 hours.
“The lockout begins now and in order to end the lockout in 12 hours, Trump will have to delete the three tweets,” wrote the spokesperson. “Right now they are labeled and hidden but not deleted. If he doesn’t delete within the 12 hour timeframe, his account will stay locked.”
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For its part, Facebook’s 24-hour ban followed two policy violations. One offending post included the same video Twitter removed and another that included falsities about the election results. “We made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence,” Facebook said in a blog post.
We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021
Notably, Twitter took things even further — confirming that it will in fact permanently suspend @realDonaldTrump’s account if he continues violating Twitter policy.
“Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account,” wrote Twitter.
Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021
If only Twitter had done that, oh, let’s say around four years ago. Same goes for Facebook, which has only recently started slightly pushing back against Trump’s policy violations.
