Donald Trump will be subjected to the same rules on Twitter as any other user as of January 20, 2021, which means he can be suspended for violating the network’s policies.
Once President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20th, Trump loses the special privileges afforded to world leaders under Twitter’s public interest policy. The policy allows content that breaks the platform’s rules to remain online if it is in the public’s interest.
“Twitter’s approach to world leaders, candidates, and public officials is based on the principle that people should be able to choose to see what their leaders are saying with clear context,” a Twitter spokesperson told The Verge. “This means that we may apply warnings and labels, and limit engagement to certain tweets. This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions.”
[READ: Twitter flags doctored video of Biden shared by Donald Trump that replaced “Despacito” with “Fuck tha Police”]
Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries on the platform. In response, Twitter restricted, fact check and add warning labels to some of his tweets.
His most recent tweets claiming voter fraud and spreading other misinformation about the recently concluded presidential election have been flagged by Twitter. From all indication, those tweets will likely continue long after he’s out of the White House but, as a private citizen, he can be banned from the network or at the very least, have his account suspended like anybody else who spreads false information or incite violence on Twitter.
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