Years too late: Jan 8, 2021, Twitter *finally* permanently bans Trump. Ben & Jerry’s: “Yesterday was not a protest—it was a riot to uphold white supremacy.”

Racism (and misogyny) seethes in “nice” Canada too, notably in our politicians, courts, police/RCMP, law firms, law societies (lawyer “regulators” regulated by – you guessed it – lawyers), all agencies with power (eg AER – 100% industry-funded “regulator” that regulates – you guessed it – industry), health, our universities/high schools/elementary schools, corporations and more.

2014 Cartoon of Canadian Parliament under Steve Harper (Pictou is in Nova Scotia)

Ben & Jerry’s@benandjerrys on KKK’s terrorism of the Capitol, Jan 7, 2021

Yesterday was not a protest—it was a riot to uphold white supremacy.

It was allowed to happen. The mostly white insurrectionists roamed freely and without consequence through the heart of our democracy. The only explanation is that this was allowed to happen because they were white—not Black, Brown or Indigenous people.

In the second America we saw a mostly white mob, encouraged by the president, violently invade the seat of our democracy in an attempt to overturn a free and fair election. It was a failed coup—our democracy in peril.

Both of these Americas are us. How we respond to the events of yesterday will determine which America we will be.

Resign, impeach, 25th Amendment… not one more day.

One of the comments:

Chris Sacca@sacca Replying to @benandjerrys and @AkilahObviously

I already love your ice cream, please stop making me respect it too.

***

Way too late Twitter! The racist violent harm by Trump and his Klan has been going on for years and is not repairable, enabled by rich white, including Twitter. Twitter needs to close many more accounts, including of rich white racist powerful Canadians.

A farewell to @realDonaldTrump, gone after 57,000 tweets

Donald’s response? Use the Twitter accounts of his aides. Reportedly, additional accounts had to be shutdown to deTwitter the Trump.

Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump by Twitter Inc. Friday, 8 January 2021

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — 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. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open. 

However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement. 

The below is a comprehensive analysis of our policy enforcement approach in this case.

Overview

On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“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!!!”

Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, 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. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.

Assessment

We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This determination is based on a number of factors, including:

  • President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an “orderly transition” on January 20th.
  • The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a “safe” target, as he will not be attending. 
  • The use of the words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters is also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US Capitol.
  • The mention of his supporters having a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election. 
  • Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17, 2021. 

As such, our determination is that the two Tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.

***

Letter to Jack Dorsey from Twitter employees asking to permanently suspend Donald Trump’s account:

Staff [company lingo for C-suite executives who report directly to Dorsey, including Vijaya Gadde, who leads the company’s legal, policy, and trust and safety divisions],

We are disturbed by the day’s events in Washington, D.C. and request three actions of Staff:

1. Permanently suspend @realDonaldTrump over his actions on January 6

2. Provide a clear account of the day’s decision making process regarding the President’s tweets

3. An investigation into the last several years of corporate actions that led to Twitter’s role in today’s insurrection

For the last four years, we have watched right wing extremists grow on our platform, nurtured by @realDonaldTrump. We have seen Twitter leadership struggle to deal with the violent, hateful rhetoric shared by @realDonaldTrump. We have respected those decisions and had faith in those who make them, knowing that settling policy around hate speech and misinformation is nuanced and difficult. We appreciate stronger measures, like the interstitials recently used on his account and his Jan. 6 timeout.

We do not believe these actions are sufficient.

Trump is no longer a legitimate democratic actor. In a video posted on Twitter, he called the election “fraudulent” and a “landslide” in his favor, while referring to his loyalists as “very special” even as they broke into the Capitol building and clashed with police. At no point did the outgoing President unambiguously denounce their actions.

We must examine Twitter’s complicity in what President-Elect Biden has rightly termed insurrection. Those acts jeopardize the wellbeing of the United States, our company, and our employees.

First, we request that @realDonaldTrump’s account be suspended permanently, before he can further harm using our platform.

Second, we request more transparent internal communications around Twitter’s civic integrity policy and how it applied.

Third, we request an independent investigation into Twitter’s role in these events. Despite our efforts to serve the public conversation, as Trump’s megaphone, we helped fuel the deadly events of January 6th. We request an investigation into how our public policy decisions led to the amplification of serious anti-democratic threats. We must learn from our mistakes in order to avoid causing future harm.

We play an unprecedented role in civil society and the world’s eyes are upon us. Our decisions this week will cement our place in history, for better or worse.

We do not claim to speak for any other Tweeps than those who add their names here.

The Undersigned

***

2017, Charlottesville

2017

Michael de Adder@deAdder 12:41 PM · Jan 8, 2021

So the repercussion of trying to circumvent Democracy in the United States is to have your Twitter removed for a half a day.

Iain Sutherland@iainsut Replying to @deAdder

Just helps prove Jack Dorsey is fascist adjacent

Larry_Leveen@Larry_Leveen Replying to @deAdder and @PlasticPlanners

Sounds about white.

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