Donald Trump’s Twitter Account Is Not Getting Deleted [Debunked]
A recent article by a fake website masquerading as CNN released a story claiming Twitter was set to delete President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter account, but the claim, website, and story are all fake.
While it should be obvious that the website is not actually CNN, apparently a few people had fallen for the fake news. Fortunately, both Snopes and the Inquisitr caught the trickery. So here is what the story claims.
According to the fake news site, cnn.com.de, Paul Horner, a spokesman for Twitter, said the following to reporters.
“‘Twitter will not tolerate active users, whose only message is one of hate, racism and intolerance. Donald Trump may have been elected to the White House, but at least someone can stand up to him, for the American people and say, ‘No Mr. Trump, we are not with you,’ ‘Everything he stands for is backwards. His appointment of racist Steve Bannon, the way he unites hate for the Muslim people in this country, his support of white power organizations. He appointed a cabinet full of billionaires and millionaires to standup for the lower and middle class. The person he puts in charge of the EPA denies climate change. His person in charge of education doesn’t believe in public education. The American people should not accept this. The children of this country deserve a leader who will build a successful future for them. Twitter will not aid and abet him as he makes a mockery of the Presidency. We have no choice but to delete his account.'”
And while the January 10 article does contain many of the arguments made by the opposition to the president-elect, the claim that Twitter is deleting Trump’s account is false. A point made more obvious by the fact Trump has tweeted since the supposed 48-hour deadline.
.@CNN is in a total meltdown with their FAKE NEWS because their ratings are tanking since election and their credibility will soon be gone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2017
Humorously, Donald Trump’s latest Tweet blasts the real CNN over alleged fake news.
In addition to Twitter activity disproving the fake news site, the fake article links, the clearly satirical articles, and the author bio all indicate the website is fake.
The author bio is actually rather hilarious to read. One of the linked articles under the heading “Related Articles” claims that Obama signed an executive order banning the Pledge of Allegiance in schools nationwide.
New Poll Shows Americans Want Trump to Delete Account
Despite the fact Twitter appears to have no interest in taking down Donald Trump’s account, a new poll released by Quinnipiac University indicates that approximately 64 percent of Americans interviewed want the president-elect to delete his Twitter account. Unsurprisingly, the extreme majority of liberal voters polled were in favor of the deletion, while conservative voters were more evenly split.
According to Fortune, “The view was shared across all parties, genders and age groups, with those aged 18 to 34 most wanting him to stop the tweets coming, by a 71-26 margin.”
Interestingly, despite this poll indicating Americans want Trump off Twitter, the soon-to-be president will have an expanded audience once he takes office. Trump will gain access to the handle @POTUS, the official domain of the United States President.
If Twitter were to delete that account, there would undoubtedly be bipartisan irritation at the action. Furthermore, Twitter (and Trump) are highly unlikely to delete the account for other reasons.
If Twitter were to ban Trump citing its Terms of Service, it would turn Trump into even more of a cause by making him a martyr. With the sheer amount of controversy generated from Trump’s Twitter feed, accusations of favoritism or anti-free speech would instantly arise.
So what are your thoughts on Donald Trump’s usage of Twitter? Should he delete his account? Should Twitter delete it? Tell us what you think in the comments section below!
[Featured Image by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
