Brit Hume, a senior political analyst at Fox News, is calling on major social media companies for banning President Trump’s accounts based on what he says are “purely editorial trials”.
“These social media companies have a legal right to do this, but they should not present themselves as open platforms with legal protection against the legal risks faced by publishers,” he wrote in a tweet on Friday night.
The tweet was in response to Twitter’s announcement that it would permanently suspend the president’s account after a violent rebellion by members loyal to Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Twitter officials, like many business leaders and government officials, blamed Trump for inciting the riot and accused his employer of allowing the president to do so.
TWITTER SUSPENDS ACCOUNT @REALDONALDTRUMP PERMANENTLY
Twitter first suspended Trump temporarily – a sharp escalation in his response after months of signaling his tweets. The final blow came on Friday after posts he made after the 12-hour suspension ended.
“After careful analysis of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them – specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter – we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement to violence,” says the company explained in a blog post.
“In the context of terrible events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that further violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this same course of action,” continued Twitter. “Our public interest structure exists to allow the public to listen to elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on the principle that people have the right to maintain the power of open accountability.”
“However, for years we have made it clear that these accounts are not entirely above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent about our policies and their application,” said Twitter.
In a statement after the ban, the president condemned Twitter as an opponent of free speech.
A day earlier, Facebook announced that it would block Trump from his platform of the same name, as well as the photo-sharing app Instagram “indefinitely” and at least until the end of his term.
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“We believe that the risks of allowing the president to continue using our service during this period are simply too great,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.
The invasion of the Capitol on Wednesday killed five people, including police officer Brian D. Sicknick, 42.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department announced on Thursday that at least 70 people have been arrested so far.
Fox News’s Brooke Singman and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.