WASHINGTON – Twitter has announced that US President Donald Trump will notbe removed from the social networking service following mounting calls fromusers and protesters to ban the president for inciting violence with hiscontroversial tweets.
A flood of messages began on social media Tuesday calling for Twitter toblock Trump’s tweets, with many saying they had reported Trump forviolating Twitter’s terms of service.
In a statement issued on Friday, Twitter did not mention Trump by name, butinstead defended its decision not to censor “world leaders.”
“Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversialtweets, would hide important information people should be able to see anddebate,” the company wrote in a blog post.
“It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hampernecessary discussion around their words and actions,” it added. “Electedworld leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of theiroutsized impact on our society.”
Twitter’s statement is the first time the company has addressed the uproarover Trump’s tweets.
Many Trump critics have called for the president to be banned from theonline platform because his outbursts could actually spark a war.
Trump’s tweet on January 2 about having a “nuclear button” on his desk andthreatening to use America’s nuclear weapons against North Korea causedsome to accuse Trump of violating Twitter’s terms of service.
Trump has also used the platform to attack political opponents and newsorganizations, and share anti-Muslim videos posted by a leader of afar-right British hate group.
In its posting, Twitter also seemed to address speculation that it wouldnot block the president because his unprecedented popularity on theplatform was crucial for its financial stability. “No one person’s accountdrives Twitter’s growth, or influences these decisions,” Twitter said.
On Wednesday, a group called Resistance SF held a protest outside ofTwitter’s headquarters in San Francisco, California, to call for theresignation of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey if he does not ban Trump from usingthe website.