Days after social media giant Twitter banned President Trump from his platform following the violent takeover of the United States Capitol, the San Francisco police were preparing for a demonstration by their supporters on Monday at the company’s headquarters.
While there has been no official word about a mass demonstration, there is traffic on social media asking supporters of the president to meet at Twitter headquarters.
The thousands of Twitter employees who would normally be at work on Monday have not been in the building since March 2020, when they were told to work remotely because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle late on Sunday, a company spokesman said Twitter respects “people’s right to express their opinions”.
“While we respect people’s right to express their opinions, we have been transparent about the factors that led to our decision last week,” said the spokesman by email. “We have nothing to add, but we want to confirm that we continue to have mandatory work at home guidance for Twitter employees.”
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San Francisco police told the newspaper that they had plans in place – including requesting mutual assistance from local security agencies – if necessary.
Twitter announced on Friday afternoon that it has permanently suspended Trump’s account because of concerns that his tweets might incite violence.
In a statement, the company said Twitter employees analyzed Trump’s tweets last week and concluded that they violated the site’s policies.
The suspension came just days after Trump supporters forcibly took over the United States Capitol, resulting in the death of five people when Congress began certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
“In the context of horrific 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,” wrote Twitter at the time. “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.”
The statement includes Twitter documentation of Trump’s tweets that the company said violated its “glorification of violence” standards.
Twitter was not the only one to act against the president. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube also suspended Trump and Amazon, Apple and Google accounts removed all pro-Trump Parler from their platforms.