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Twitter also deleted three tweets by Trump on the handle and barred access to the presidential account until Joe Biden's inauguration. Twitter permanently suspended his handle, followed by the official account of his campaign and the accounts of allies who posted on his behalf, like Trump campaign digital director Gary Coby. Facebook and Instagram banned him for two years. Though the Senate eventually acquitted Trump during his second impeachment, social media companies swiftly banned him. His tweets played a role in inciting the January 6, 2021, attack of the US Capitol during the formal counting of electoral votes. After his election loss, Trump persistently undermined the election results in the weeks leading to Joe Biden's inauguration.
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An investigation by The New York Times published November 2, 2019, found that, during his time in office to date, Trump had already retweeted at least 145 accounts that "have pushed conspiracy or fringe content, including more than two dozen that have since been suspended." In 2020, Trump also spread misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic.ĭuring his 2020 reelection campaign, he falsely suggested that postal voting or electoral fraud may compromise the election, prompting Twitter to either remove such tweets or label them as disputed. In the face of this political censure, his tweets only accelerated. Congress performed its own form of moderation: on July 16, 2019, the House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines to censure him for "racist comments" he had tweeted two days previously. įor most of Trump's presidency, his account on Twitter, where he often posted controversial and false statements, remained unmoderated in the name of "public interest".
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On November 19, 2022, Twitter's new owner, Elon Musk, reinstated his account, although Trump has stated he will not use it in favor of his own social media, Truth Social. When Twitter banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his term, his handle had over 88.9 million followers. The White House said the tweets should be considered official statements. Over nearly twelve years, Trump tweeted around 57,000 times, including about 8,000 times during the 2016 election campaign and over 25,000 times during his presidency.
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Donald Trump's use of social media attracted attention worldwide since he joined Twitter in May 2009.
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