Donald Trump has been notorious for spewing hate from his Twitter account long before he became the president. A history of vile attacks including racism and fat shaming.
After the violent attacks on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C and some Tweets, Twitter first issued Trump with a 12-hour temporary ban and then subsequently a permanent ban, also limiting access to other accounts including the official @POTUS account.
Joining in, Facebook has also suspended Trump indefinitely from Facebook and Instagram (not outright banned like Twitter). For a bigger lol, even Shapchat has banned Donald Trump amongst others who have temporarily suspended the sale of Trump merchandise including PayPal and Shopify. The “DonaldTrump” subreddit was also removed over on Reddit.
Where was all of this action years ago when Trump was using his platform to attack people and not condemn dangerous actions such as shootings and attacks?
The sad reality of this ban is that we shouldn’t be congratulating Twitter or patting Facebook on the back, these companies have only acted because Trump as a threat has all been neutralised. Twitter has clearly been too afraid to ban Trump out of fear of the regulatory hell he could put them in, now Biden is confirmed, Twitter has nothing left to lose. The same can be said for other platforms.
The damage has already been done. For years, Trump has built up his MAGA movement, empowering far-right self-described patriots some of which have gone on to commit some heinous acts.
If Twitter truly cared about limiting access to its platform from those spreading hate and inciting violence, maybe they should have banned Trump four years ago.