Twitter said it blocked President Donald Trump’s account for 12 hours and warned for the first time that it could permanently suspend him.
The temporary blockade reflects Trump’s violation of Twitter rules, the company said.
“We demand the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets that were posted today for repeated and serious violations of our Civic Integrity Policy,” said Twitter. “This means that the @realDonaldTrump account will be blocked for 12 hours after removing these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain blocked.”
Twitter added that “future violations … will result in the permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”
“We assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s page, which will result in a 24-hour resource block, which means he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time,” said Facebook in a tweet.
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone did not immediately answer questions about whether Trump could face a permanent suspension if he continues to violate Facebook policies.
The announcement marks a major escalation by both social media companies against Trump’s account and responds to calls from civil rights groups for Trump to be banned from platforms.