Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been permanently suspended “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”.
Tweets from the US president’s @realDonaldTrump handle have been wiped, with his account now showing the words: “Twitter suspends accounts which violate the Twitter Rules.”
Trump’s Twitter account permanently suspended
The Twitter Safety account posted shortly afterwards, saying: “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.
It comes after Mr Trump was similarly banned from Facebook and Instagram following riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday.
Twitter said two of the president’s tweets posted on Friday had violated its glorification of violence policy.
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Trump promises ‘smooth transition of power’
They were, “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!!!” and, “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th”.
Twitter said the two tweets “were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the US Capitol”.
The social media giant said its assessment of the tweets found they were being “received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate” and seen as “disavowing” his previous claim that there would be an “orderly transition” on 20 January when President-elect Joe Biden takes over.
Additionally, Twitter said his second tweet on Friday “may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target”.
Mr Trump said he would not attend Mr Biden’s inauguration.
Twitter initially suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours on Wednesday after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.