“Live Tweeting” Fifth Episode : The Removal Of Trump From Twitter

“Live Tweeting” has released by Chief Elon Musk, which revealed that Twitter employees and top executives pushed former US President Donald Trump to be banned following the riots at Capitol Hill in January 2021. As per the information shared by journalist Bari Weiss, Trump was banned despite monitors initially finding no policy violations in the former US president’s tweets.

Taking the thread of journalist, Elon Musk tweeted through his Twitter handle, “Under pressure from hundreds of activist employees, Twitter deplatforms Trump, a sitting US President, even though they themselves acknowledge that he didn’t violate the rules:”.

Under pressure from hundreds of activist employees, Twitter deplatforms Trump, a sitting US President, even though they themselves acknowledge that he didn’t violate the rules: https://t.co/60PplztV4k

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 12, 2022

Briefing

Bari Weiss of The Free Press tweeted a thread titled, “The Removal of Trump from Twitter”, writing, “For years, Twitter had resisted calls both internal and external to ban Trump on the grounds that blocking a world leader from the platform or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information that people should be able to see and debate”.

6. But after January 6, as @mtaibbi and @shellenbergermd have documented, pressure grew, both inside and outside of Twitter, to ban Trump.

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022

“But after January 6, as @mtaibbi and @shellenbergermd have documented, pressure grew, both inside and outside of Twitter, to ban Trump”, she further wrote.

Stating that there were dissenters inside Twitter, she went on to cite how one employee of the platform wrote that maybe because the person was from China, he/she deeply understood how censorship can destroy the public conversation.

“But voices like that one appear to have been a distinct minority within the company. Across Slack channels, many Twitter employees were upset that Trump hadn’t been banned earlier”, shared Weiss, adding, “After January 6, Twitter employees organized to demand their employer ban Trump. “There is a lot of employee advocacy happening”, said one Twitter employee”.

Following a public outcry of over 300 Twitter employees who signed an open letter published in the Washington Post pressuring then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to ban Trump, Weiss revealed, “Twitter staff assigned to evaluate tweets quickly concluded that Trump had not violated Twitter’s policies”.

11. In the early afternoon of January 8, The Washington Post published an open letter signed by over 300 Twitter employees to CEO Jack Dorsey demanding Trump’s ban. “We must examine Twitter’s complicity in what President-Elect Biden has rightly termed insurrection.”

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022

“It’s pretty clear he’s saying the ‘American Patriots’ are the ones who voted for him and not the terrorists (we can call them that, right?) from Wednesday”, shared another staffer.

Also read: Twitter New Feature “Live Tweeting” First Episode: Hunter Biden Story

Weiss in the tweet shared, “Twitter’s safety team decides that Trump’s 7:44 am ET tweet is also not in violation. They are unequivocal: “it’s a clear no vio (violations). It’s just to say he’s not attending the inauguration”.

“Less than 90 minutes after Twitter employees had determined that Trump’s tweets were not in violation of Twitter policy, Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s Head of Legal, Policy and Trust, asked whether it could, in fact, be ‘coded incitement to further violence,’” Weiss reported.

18. Next, Twitter’s safety team decides that Trump’s 7:44 am ET tweet is also not in violation. They are unequivocal: “it’s a clear no vio. It’s just to say he’s not attending the inauguration” pic.twitter.com/zdxSsG1UBS

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022

“A few minutes later, Twitter employees on the ‘scaled enforcement team’ suggest that Trump’s tweet may have violated Twitter’s Glorification of Violence policy—if you interpreted the phrase ‘American Patriots’ to refer to the rioters”.

Also read: “Live Tweeting” Second Episode: Twitter’s Secret Blacklists

According to Weiss, things escalated from there and after Dorsey had requested simpler language to explain why Trump would be banned, Roth reacted to staffers, “[G]od help us [this] makes me think he wants to share it publicly”.

“One hour later, Twitter announces Trump’s permanent suspension ‘due to the risk of further incitement of violence.’ Many at Twitter were ecstatic”, Weiss wrote.

Weiss said,” To understand Twitter’s decision to ban Trump, we must consider how Twitter deals with other heads of state and political leaders, including in Iran, Nigeria, and Ethiopia”.

20. In June 2018, Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted, “#Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen.”

Twitter neither deleted the tweet nor banned the Ayatollah. pic.twitter.com/D6Cb1F05sY

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022

While giving examples of leaders from around the world that did not get banned from the platform even after instigating people, Weiss tried to insinuate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of them.

24. In early February 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government threatened to arrest Twitter employees in India, and to incarcerate them for up to seven years after they restored hundreds of accounts that had been critical of him.

Twitter did not ban Modi. pic.twitter.com/s7dyDlNbaS

— Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) December 12, 2022

Weiss ended her tweet by writing ultimately the concerns about Twitter’s efforts to censor news about Hunter Biden’s laptop, blacklist disfavored views, and ban a president “aren’t about the past choices of executives in a social media company. They’re about the power of a handful of people at a private company to influence the public discourse and democracy”.