Some Twitter employees defined their accounts as private and cleaned up their online biographies because of concerns that they might be targets of supporters of President Trump, the New York Times reported. In addition, some Twitter executives have been assigned to personal security as the company evaluates with its decision to stop one of its loudest voices.
Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account was permanently suspended from Twitter on January 8, “due to the risk of further incitement to violence,” said Twitter in your statement. The president told supporters at a demonstration shortly before an attack on the Capitol on January 6 that they “would have to show strength” and “fight harder”, encouraging them to walk to the Capitol. Trump tweeted that Vice President Mike Pence “did not have the courage to do what should have been done” and later – while the attack was still underway – tweeted “we love you” for his supporters. The House of Representatives impeached Trump a second time on January 13 for “inciting insurrection”.
According Times, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who worked remotely on a private island the day the riot broke out, was not entirely convinced that the president’s temporary ban that day was the right decision. Twitter executives told Dorsey that the response to Trump’s tweets the day after the riot suggested that there was great potential for more violence in the real world, leading to permanent suspension.
More than 300 Twitter employees signed an internal petition calling for a permanent suspension of Trump, but according to the Times, the company had already decided at that time to ban the president. After Twitter announced its ban, Snapchat issued its own permanent ban, and Twitch and Facebook placed indefinite bans on President Trump’s accounts. Facebook said in a statement explaining its decision: “The risks of allowing the president to continue using our service … are just too great.” In addition, Shopify destroyed the Trump campaign store, a major source of sales for Make America Great Again hats and other products.
In a tweet topic on Wednesday, Dorsey said banning Trump’s account was the right decision. “The offline damage as a result of online speech is proven to be real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all,” he wrote, adding that Twitter must “critically examine the inconsistencies in our policy and enforcement.”