Donald Trump locked out of Twitter, Facebook as chaos hits US Capitol

After slapping new warnings on Donald Trump’s posts, Facebook and Twitter took another step to silence the US President.

Donald Trump has been locked out of Twitter for at least 12 hours and suspended from Facebook for 24 hours in an unprecedented crackdown on his use of social media during a riot by his supporters in America’s capital.

Arguably Mr Trump’s favourite social media service, Twitter removed three of his messages hours after they were sent this morning, including a video in which he praised protesters, saying “we love you, you’re very special”.

Twitter initially labelled the messages with warnings and prevented them from being replied to, re-shared or liked.

However, it later removed them from view and issued a statement that they represented “repeated and severe violations of our civic integrity policy”.

“This means the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these tweets. If the tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked,” the company tweeted.

“Future violations of the Twitter rules, including our civic integrity or violent threats policies, will result in the permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

US President Donald Trump has been locked out of Twitter for at least 12 hours. Picture: AFP

Mr Trump’s 12-hour Twitter suspension follows talk about whether his account will be removed from the site when he steps down as US president due to frequent violations of Twitter rules that apply to regular users.

Until now, Mr Trump has enjoyed protection from suspensions or ban under Twitter’s public interest policy, formalised in 2019.

It states that tweets from elected and government officials can be exempt from the company’s other policies due to “significant public interest in knowing and being able to discuss their actions and statements”.

But Mr Trump’s Twitter account will no longer be eligible for protection under this policy when President-Elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20, leading many to question whether he will be allowed to continue using the site to make unproven or dangerous claims.

FACEBOOK SUSPENDS TRUMP POSTS

Facebook, where Mr Trump has 35 million followers, also removed his video from its platform but later went further, announcing it would suspend new posts to his account for a day.

“We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time,” the company said in a statement.

Facebook integrity vice-president Guy Rosen and global policy management vice-president Monika Bickert in a joint announcement said the company “made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence”.

The multibillion-dollar social network also committed to adding a new label to Facebook posts questioning election results that read, “Joe Biden has been elected President with results that were certified by all 50 states”.

The pair said the company would continue “to monitor the situation” and take additional measures “if necessary”.

YouTube has also removed a Trump video that appeared to be contributing to the mob violence by baselessly challenging the outcome of the recent presidential election, which he lost, according to media reports.

Social media expert Meg Coffey said the suspensions were a long time coming but showed tech giants could finally be ready take meaningful action against dangerous messages on their platform.

“This is the opportunity, the turning point, the moment that will be written about in history books,” she said.

“This will determine the path their companies take. And it’s something that needed to happen.”

CHAOS AT THE CAPITOL

Moments after the extraordinary rally by Mr Trump seeking to overturn the election, a flag-waving mob broke down barricades outside the Capitol and swarmed inside, rampaging through offices and onto the usually solemn legislative floors.

One woman died in unclear circumstances after being shot inside the Capitol and others were injured, police said, with politicians evacuated and handed protective masks as police fired tear gas.

One Trump supporter in jeans and a baseball cap was pictured propping a leg up on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk, where a threatening note had been left, as throngs of others climbed onto risers set up for Biden’s inauguration on January 20, holding a banner that read: “We the people will bring DC to its knees/We have the power.”

Rioters enter the US Capitol as tear gas fills the corridor. Picture: AFP

Mr Biden called the violence an “insurrection” and demanded Trump immediately go on national television to urge his supporters to lift the siege of the Capitol.

“Our democracy’s under unprecedented assault,” Mr Biden said in his home state of Delaware.

“The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect a true America,” he added.

“This is not dissent. It’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end now.” In In Mr Trump’s video posted soon afterwards on Twitter, he called on his supporters to leave but stood by his unfounded claims of election fraud.

“We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, you’re very special,” he said.

Originally published as Donald Trump locked out of Twitter, Facebook as chaos hits US Capitol