Donald Trump, who currently enjoys certain exemptions from Twitter’s policies due to his status as a world leader, will likely lose the protection after January 20 when Joe Biden takes over as the US president.
Twitter has confirmed that Trump’s personal account on Twitter could be subject to a ban once he becomes a private citizen, for repeatedly violating the company’s rules.
But warnings have not stopped President Trump from continuing to spread conspiracy theories and use violent rhetoric on Twitter. Since it became clear that Joe Biden was leading the race and set to be the next president, Trump has been using Twitter to peddle voter fraud conspiracy theories without proof. Most of his tweets related to election results appear with the label: “This claim about election fraud is disputed”. Currently, these tweets are not banned as his account is covered under the platform’s “world leaders on Twitter: principles and approach” guidelines, according to which the company allows tweets that break its rules to stay up if they see “clear public interest value” in them.
This policy has allowed Trump to spread conspiracy theories about issues such as Covid-19 and the election, and tweet violent threats—such as “When the looting starts, the shooting starts!” as he did back in June—without fear of punishment.
