Twitter chief executive officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey has said that the permanent ban on Trump was the right thing to do.
While Jack Dorsey justified the decision to ban Trump from Twitter, he expressed sadness over it, saying there were "extraordinary and untenable circumstances" surrounding the permanent suspension.
He also admitted that the ban was partly due to Twitter's failure to do enough to foster "healthy conversation" across its platforms. The decision has garnered both praise and criticism.
Ban on Trump
Twitter announced the permanent suspension on President Trump after it initially suspended his account for 24 hours following violent protests by his supporters on the US Capitol.
Twitter said: "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
"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," the firm added.
Initially, Twitter gave Trump a temporary suspension after he repeatedly made false claims of election fraud, as well as posting a video message saying "I love you" to supporters attacking the US Capitol and calling them "patriots".
The permanent ban followed two tweets by Trump, which Twitter claims violated its policy against glorification of violence.
Twitter pointed out that "these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks."
The first Trump tweet referred to his supporters and 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!!!"
The other tweet was about his plan not to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration. Trump wrote: "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th."
According to Twitter, the second tweet may be seen as a further statement that the election was not legitimate or that it could be interpreted as Trump saying the inauguration would be a "safe" target for violence because he would not be present.
Trump's response
In response to the permanent suspension, the president used the POTUS Twitter account to say he will build his own platform after his @realDonaldTrump account gets suspended.
"As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me," Trump wrote in a series of tweets that are no longer visible on the social media service.
Trump has also been banned from Facebook and Instagram for the remainder of his term while Snapchat has announced its permanent ban on the president.