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Twitter Locks Trump’s Account, Threatens ‘Permanent Suspension’ After Riot at Capitol Building

Three of Trump’s tweets pushing the baseless conspiracy theory that the election was stolen were also removed

Sarah Emerson
OneZero
2 min readJan 7, 2021

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Photo Illustration: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Twitter said it has locked President Donald Trump’s account for 12 hours and threatened it with permanent suspension on Wednesday night, shortly after a mob of his followers broke into the Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Earlier in the day, President Trump sent a number of tweets supporting the conspiracy theory that the election was stolen and encouraging his followers in their insurrection at the Capitol, where a woman was fatally shot.

“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” Twitter said via its Twitter Safety account.

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Sarah Emerson
Sarah Emerson

Written by Sarah Emerson

Staff writer at OneZero covering social platforms, internet communities, and the spread of misinformation online. Previously: VICE

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