President Donald Trump continued tweeting Friday evening using the government-owned @POTUS account, despite having his @realDonaldTrump account permanently suspended by Twitter earlier in the day.
“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.
The tweets were removed from the service almost immediately. It’s unclear what steps Twitter took in the handling of the @POTUS account.
Earlier in the day, the company announced that it would permanently suspend Trump’s personal account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Twitter specifically noted that Trump’s tweets earlier in the day could be interpreted as supporting rioters. The company also noted that plans for future armed protests had begun proliferating on and off of the social media service.
In his @POTUS tweets, Trump reiterated his call to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that shields tech companies from being held liable for what users post on their platforms. The sentiment was echoed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
“I’m more determined than ever to strip Section 230 protections from Big Tech (Twitter) that let them be immune from lawsuits,” Graham tweeted.
Trump also said his administration has “been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon.” He added that his team is looking “at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future.”
“We will not be SILENCED! Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH,” Trump wrote in the now removed tweets.
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