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Will Twitter ban Trump? President will lose 'protection' of world leader after he leaves White House

A Twitter spokeswoman said the special features that world leaders enjoy, and which has prevented Trump from getting banned, will be taken away from him at noon on January 20, 2021

President Donald Trump’s personal Twitter account is one of the most followed accounts on the micro-blogging platform. With a following of 88.6 million, he is not very far behind former president Barack Obama, who has more than 125 million followers. But Trump, who currently enjoys certain exemptions from Twitter’s policies due to his status as a world leader, will lose the protection when President-elect Joe Biden enters the White House on January 20. A report by The Independent has stated that Trump may likely face a ban if he continues to spread conspiracy theories, which Twitter has been allowing on the platform with restrictions and contextual labels. Twitter’s “principles & approach” to world leaders says that “if a Tweet from a world leader does violate the Twitter Rules but there is a clear public interest value to keeping the Tweet on the service, we may place it behind a notice that provides context about the violation and allows people to click through should they wish to see the content.”

A Twitter spokeswoman told Forbes that the special features that world leaders enjoy will be taken away from Trump at noon on January 20, 2021. The unidentified spokesperson also added that the microblogging and social networking service does not have “special rules” to handle the Republican leader.

Meanwhile, the official @POTUS Twitter account, which too has been used by Trump to amplify his messages, will be transferred to Biden following his January 20 inauguration.

Twitter has cracked down on many of Trump’s tweets since Election Day. After the November 3 election, the 74-year-old has been using the platform to claim voter fraud. But time and again, Twitter labeled many of his tweets with, “This claim about election fraud is disputed”.

Such tweets were, however, neither deleted nor his account banned, as Trump account currently comes under the platform’s “world leaders on Twitter: principles and approach” guidelines, which allows posts that break its rules to remain if there are “clear public interest value” in them.

Several people on Twitter also reacted to the news. One user wrote, “Save the USA: permanently ban Trump's Twitter account. @Twitter”. Another one said, “If they did, we would lose valuable insight to his state of mind. I have an ominous feeling this doesn’t all end with a happy, peaceful transition. I wish it did, but the warning signs suggest a potentially dangerous outcome unless curtailed by coherent representatives.”

“Twitter has been saying they couldn't, because he's President & he should be allowed this public forum. BUT, in about a month, he will be a private citizen, I almost said just like you & me, but that reptile is not like us. He's one of a kind & needs to be banned from Twitter,” the third user tweeted while the fourth one said, “Archive it per rules of presidential records and communications. Ban it asap once new admin is in office, once indictments are unsealed. Definitely ban both accounts but record-keep for pres records, public records, evidence upon a conviction, sentencing/jail unless a fugitive.”

“After trump will be vanished behind bars, I will quit twitter! I fundamentally disagree with the platform twitter offered for the lies of trump and his crooks! I just stay on twitter to counter these lies when and where possible!!!” the fifth one added.