Trump returns to Twitter after suspension, calls for ‘smooth’ transition of power
President Donald Trump resumed posting to Twitter on Thursday with a video, following a suspension for his posts during a riot at the US Capitol.
“Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem,” Trump said in the video. “America is and must always be a nation of law and order.”
Trump said “tempers must be cooled” after the election, and said he will work toward a peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden.
“This moment calls for healing,” Trump said.
The social media platform locked Trump’s account for at least 12 hours on Wednesday after citing three tweets, including a video, that violated its rules against misinformation on the election.
Trump had repeated false claims that the election had been stolen through voter fraud in the posts. There is no evidence that voter fraud influenced the outcome of the election.
Also on Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram have extended an earlier 24-hour ban on Trump’s posts to those platforms.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook.
“Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Congress certified Joe Biden as the winner of the November election early Thursday after pro-Trump extremists stormed the Capitol to disrupt proceedings.
Twitter required that Trump remove the offending posts to regain access to the account after 12 hours. The site also warned it would permanently ban Trump if he continued to violate its rules, The Washington Post reported.
Facebook and Instagram had imposed 24-hour bans on Trump for inciting the violence at the Capitol, while YouTube removed a video he posted telling rioters “we love you.”
Snapchat also has banned Trump for an indefinite period of time, TechCrunch reported. The platform “simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform,” said co-founder and chief executive officer Evan Spiegel in a blog post.
Some critics, including the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League, have called on social media platforms to make the bans permanent, The Washington Post reported.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Trump returns to Twitter after suspension, calls for ‘smooth’ transition of power."