UPDATE: Twitter Suspends Trump's Account Permanently
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Twitter announced Friday afternoon it has permanently suspended the account of President Donald Trump over concerns his tweets could incite violence.
In a statement the San Francisco-based social media company released regarding the suspension, it said that the company reviewed Trump's tweets this past week and determined they violated the site's policies.
The suspension comes just days after Trump supporters took over the U.S. Capitol by force, resulting in the deaths of five people and the evacuation of congress from the building when the legislative body planned 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. "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."
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The statement includes Twitter's documentation of Trump's tweets that violated the website's "glorification of violence" standards.
One of Trump's tweets violating this standard said read:
"The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!"
Twitter also suspended the accounts of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign attorney Sidney Powell for sharing posts about the web of conspiracy theories known as QAnon.
The social media giant had suspended the President's account for twelve hours on Wednesday. The platform made several of his posts "unavailable" after his supporters overran Capitol Hill Wednesday, and then temporarily locked the president's account.
The social media platform's @TwitterSafety account posted about the action just after 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The post stated that the platform "required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets" that violated Twitter's "Civic Integrity" policy.
Apparently Trump complied with the requirement that he remove the posts in question, as he was able to regain access his account Thursday afternoon.
After Twitter unlocked the account, the president posted a brief video from the White House in which he acknowledged his administration would end on Jan. 20 with the inauguration of President-elect Biden. He also denounced Wednesday's deadly Capitol riot without acknowledging that his speech to supporters had instigated the insurrection.
Trump said he is "outraged" by the "violence, lawlessness and mayhem" on Wednesday. The president failed to condemn the violence as it was happening on.
While he was able to access his Twitter account, Facebook had already announced earlier Thursday that it was extending a block of his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post, "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 said Facebook would extend the block for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.
The social media company's Friday announcement came after Twitter employees wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey requesting he suspend Trump's account.
After the announcement of Trump's suspension, the phrase "THANK YOU TWITTER" trended on the site.
To read Twitter's full statement on the suspension, visit its blog.
This story will be updated.
