Twitter will not refuse to rule out suspending US President Donald Trump’s account if he continues posting incendiary messages such as those about the George Floyd protests, a top Twitter executive was quoted as saying by AFP.
Trump has been scrupulously avoiding media questions, choosing to post his messages on Twitter instead. His 81.7 million followers have made the @realDonaldTrump account one of Twitter’s 10 most popular.
However, there has been a bitter war between the two ever since Twitter decided to do a fact check on two of his Tweets about postal ballots last month.
On Friday, Twitter covered up a message from Trump warning protesters outraged by unarmed black man Floyd’s death at police hands that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”.
A message above that Tweet warned that it “violated Twitter rules about glorifying violence”. Viewers had to click on the message to see Trump’s original posting.
Twitter Public Policy Strategy Director Nick Pickles told a UK parliamentary hearing on Thursday that the platform had decided to put Trump’s Tweets to the same review process as it does for all other verified public figures, said the AFP report.
“Every Twitter account is subject to the Twitter rules,” he said both times.
Twitter’s decision to fact-check and hide Trump’s posting has put pressure on Facebook and other social media platforms to follow suit.
Meanwhile, Snapcat on Wednesday accused Trump of inciting “racial violence” and warned that it would not promote that type of content.
