Twitter (TwitterSafety). “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,” 8 Jan., 3:21 p.m. Tweet. 

Twitter’s decision to bar President Trump’s account was influenced by the U.S. Capitol riot, which the president is accused of triggering. 

Before the permanent suspension of Mr. Trump’s account, it was locked down for 12 hours on Jan. 6 after he posted multiple tweets that violated Twitter’s policy against the glorification of violence and rules about spreading election misinformation.

“These isolated actions are both too late and not nearly enough,” said Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, to The New York Times.

But Twitter hasn’t been the only social media platform to take action against Trump online. Discord, Facebook, Shopify, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitch, Reddit, Pinterest, and YouTube have all either banned Mr. Trump or disabled accounts associated with him. Amazon and Google Play and Apple’s App Store have suspended Parler, a social networking service heavily used by Trump supporters.

Hours after the ban of his personal account, President Trump commented using the official president Twitter account, @POTUS, claiming that Twitter employees have banded with the Democrats and radical left to quiet him and his voters.

Twitter immediately deleted the new tweets. However, Mr. Trump will not have control over the official presidential and White House Twitter accounts for much longer, as they will be handed to the Biden administration on Jan. 21, the day after Joe Biden is inaugurated. If Mr. Trump continues to attempt to circumvent the ban by publicly communicating through @POTUS, Twitter will temporarily restrict features for the account.

Twitter allowed Mr. Trump to openly vent online, but with his account ejected, he lost his only outlet along with the 88.7 million Twitter followers he had at the time of the ban. Mr. Trump has been recently steering away from live television interviews and public appearances, as they have become less safe and reliable sources for communication, with many pressing reporters demanding answers on the spot. But as he continues to be deplatformed, people wonder how President Trump will broadcast messages to the public. 

Photo courtesy of TWITTER.COM