San Francisco braces for pro-Trump rally at Twitter headquarters
Days after social media giant Twitter banned President Trump from its platform in the wake of the violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol, San Francisco police were bracing for a demonstration by his supporters Monday at the company's headquarters.
While there's been no official word about a mass demonstration, there's been social media traffic urging supporters of the president to gather at Twitter headquarters.
The thousands of Twitter employees who would normally be at work Monday haven't been in the building since March 2020 when they were told to work remotely because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday night, a company spokesman said Twitter respects "people's right to express their views."
"While we respect people's right to express their views, we've been transparent about the factors leading up to our decision last week," the spokesperson said in an email. "We have nothing to add but wanted to confirm that we continue to have mandatory work from home guidance for Twitter employees."
San Francisco police told the newspaper they had plans in place — including the calling in of mutual aid from nearby law enforcement agencies — if needed.
Twitter announced Friday afternoon it had permanently suspended Mr. Trump's account over concerns his tweets could incite violence.
In a statement, the company said Twitter officials had reviewed Mr. Trump's tweets from the past week and determined they violated the site's policies.
The suspension came just days after Trump supporters took over the U.S. Capitol by force, resulting in the deaths of five people as Congress began to certify Joe Biden's 2020 presidential election win.
"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," Twitter wrote at the time. "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."
"However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things."
The statement includes Twitter's documentation of Trump tweets the company said violated its "glorification of violence" standards.
Twitter wasn't alone in taking action against the President. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube also suspended Trump accounts and Amazon, Apple and Google have all booted pro-Trump Parler off their platforms.