Donald Trump was known for his active use of social media, with the president often making headlines for outrageous and divisive tweets.
The president was prolific on the platform and had amassed almost 89 million followers across his 59,558 posts.
President Trump joined the site in March 2009 under the handle @realDonaldTrump and issued his first tweet two months later to advertise an imminent appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman.
He often used the platform to criticise Barack Obama following the Democrat’s re-election as president in 2012.
READ MORE: Donald Trump Twitter: Social media giant permanently suspends Donald Trump’s account
Former White House press secretary Anthony Scaramucci told the New York Times that Mr Trump considered the platform essential to his 2016 election with the social media site popularising phrases such as “fake news”
However, it was not just to reach out to his base that the president used the social platform for.
After being elected, he used his own Twitter account to announce a number of major political decisions, including policy changes and the hiring and firing of senior government officials.
Indeed, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson learned he had lost his job in a tweet.
Despite being one of the most followed and active users of the social media site, tensions began to rise between the operators of the platform and Trump.
The president was criticised for retweeting or copying material from accounts posting racist, antisemitic or false information. He was condemned for sharing three inflammatory anti-Muslim videos from Britain First in November 29, 2017, with then UK Prime Minister Theresa May saying: “It is wrong for the president to have done this.”
He also tweeted the wrong Theresa May initially using the wrong handle.
Donald Trump was also criticised by scientists and medical officers after he claimed on Twitter and Facebook on October 6 last year that the seasonal flu was more lethal than coronavirus.
READ MORE: US elections: Donald Trump has had '19 Twitter warnings' on Tweets since Election Day
On October 2, 2020, @realDonaldTrump announced that Trump and first lady Melania Trump had contracted the coronavirus. The post got 1.8 million likes and nearly 400,000 retweets.
Election 2020
The president also had a run-in with the social media giant after it opted to hide some of his tweets following Election Day in the US.
Trump tweeted "They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear - ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!"
The tweet was then removed after 30 minutes.
This started a series of tweets that carried warnings of “false, disputed or misleading information”
READ MORE: Celebrities and politicians react to Donald Trump's Twitter ban
Indeed, in the 24 days following the US election, Twitter added warnings to over 200 tweets of the president. Such tweets included claims of voter fraud and rigged ballots.
One tweet read: “Just saw the vote tabulations. There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!! This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION.”
Removal from Twitter
The social media giant had long hinted that Donald Trump could be removed from the platform after his presidency ended.
Twitter stated it would remove the special exemption for the @realDonalTrump account under which it leaves up tweets by political leaders that would otherwise violate Twitter’s usage policies.
Twitter locked the account of Donald Trump for “repeated and severe violations” of its Civic Integrity policy over the storming of the US Capitol.
The president was then allowed back on the platform.
Two days later, the site said it had permanently suspended him after a review of two of his tweets posted that day found they had violated its glorification of violence policy.
A statement posted on Twitter’s blog said it had “made it clear” previously that the President’s account was “not above our rules”, and said it took action “in the context of horrific events” earlier this week.
Following the ban, Twitter later deleted two tweets apparently issued by Mr Trump on the @POTUS account, and also suspended the @TeamTrump account after it spread a statement from the president.
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
The statement said: “After close review 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 of violence.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
Following his earlier ban, the @POTUS account issued two posts apparently from Mr Trump in which he wrote “We will not be SILENCED!” and “Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH”. Both tweets were deleted by Twitter.
Twitter later suspended the @TeamTrump account after several tweets which carried a statement from the president.
The tech company’s spokesperson said “For government accounts, such as @POTUS and @WhiteHouse, we will not suspend those accounts permanently but will take action to limit their use.”
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