Twitter Cancels Trump, Limbaugh Quits Tweeting

Reuters graphic

President Donald Trump said he will look at building his own platform after Twitter suspended him on Friday, citing a risk of further incitement of violence following the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday by hundreds of his supporters.

He had 88.6 million followers, reports Reuters.

Trump sent the latest tweets on his @POTUS account after Twitter banned his personal account.

Twitter shut down his @TeamTrump campaign account shortly after it sent out a tweet with a “statement from President Trump” accusing Twitter of “banning free speech” and coordinating with “the Democrats and the Radical Left” to silence him.

The account shortly before that had pointed its 2.3 million followers to its account on Parler, which is popular with conservatives for its hands-off approach to content moderation.

Alphabet Inc’s Google suspended Parler on Friday, citing posts inciting violence, while Apple Inc gave the service 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan.

Meanwhile, radio host Rush Limbaugh's Twitter account has been deactivated.

Twitter confirmed to USAToday that the account wasn't suspended but "deactivated by the owner."

Limbaugh has been on the airwaves for more than three decades and has been an adamant supporter of President Donald Trump and his Twitter account, @RealRLimbaugh, had a similar to the style of Trump's @realDonaldTrump.

Trump tweeted “We will not be SILENCED!” from the @POTUS government account, with 33.4 million followers. Twitter had permanently suspended the president’s go-to megaphone, his @realDonaldTrump personal account, hours earlier.

The company said accounts used by Trump to try to get around the ban could face permanent suspension as well under its “ban evasion” policies.

“Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH,” Trump wrote in the now-deleted tweets, adding that he is considering building his own social media platform in the near future.

@realDonaldTrump, the Twitter feed that grew from the random musings of a reality TV star into the cudgel of an American president was not quite 12 years old, according to The Associated Press.

The provocative handle was given birth by a New York real estate tycoon who used it to help him become the 45th U.S. president. It began with a May 4, 2009, tweet promoting Donald Trump’s upcoming appearance on David Letterman’s show. It died more than 57,000 tweets later.