In the aftermath of Capitol attack by President Donald Trump’s supporters, social media network Twitter has permanently suspended his account.
According to a company statement, the account suspended “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Twitter added that the decision was made “after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account”.
It added that “it determined two tweets from @RealDonaldTrump on January 8 were likely to encourage people to replicate criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol.”
Trump’s account was locked for 12 hours on Wednesday after he called his supporters who stormed the US Capitol “patriots”.
Twitter warned him that it would ban him “permanently” if he breached the platform’s rules again.
After restoration of his account, Trump wrote two tweets that forced the company to take the decision.
In one, he wrote: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
Twitter said this tweet “is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an ‘orderly transition’.”
In the second tweet, he wrote: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Twitter said this was “being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate”.
Twitter said both of these tweets were “in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy”.
The social media platform Facebook has already banned Trump indefinitely.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama had on Thursday urged the company to permanently expel him.
On Trump’s incitement on social media platforms, his followers had on Jan 6 attacked the Capitol to stop certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. The violence led to the death of five people.
