Trump Twitter Ban: Has The Social Media Platform Banned The POTUS?


Has Donald Trump been banned from Twitter? The old rumor is making its way around the internet again, and it alleges that the social media giant silenced the president-elect for racist and other inflammatory posts.

And the answer to the question is the same as it was when the rumor first started gaining traction: No, Donald Trump has not been banned from Twitter, and as of this writing, the social media giant has no intentions of banning him.

Has Donald Trump been banned from Twitter? No, no he hasn’t. [Image by Issarapong Suya/Shutterstock]

In fact, not only has Donald Trump not been banned from Twitter, he actually has two Twitter accounts, and he uses them both. As President of the United States, Trump has been given the official Twitter account of the President — @POTUS. It’s the same Twitter account that Barack Obama used when he was President, and the Twitter account that whoever succeeds Trump as President will have. Trump last posted from that account at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time today, about three hours before this article was written.

Trump also continues to use the Twitter account that he’s had since he joined the social media platform — @realDonaldTrump. He had that account before he ran for President, and presumably, he will continue to use it after his time in office ends. He last posted from that account at around 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, about eight hours before this article was written.

Needless to say, if Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter, it’s news to both him and Twitter’s management.

The notion that Trump had been banned from Twitter first started gaining traction about three weeks ago, thanks to a website that rather deftly plagiarized CNN‘s graphics and font, and used a URL with the letters “CNN” in it, to make it look like it was from CNN. The convincing-looking report posited that Twitter had banned Trump for violating its Terms of Use regarding hate speech (you can read the entire fake story here).

“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.'”

Of course, the website that purported to be from CNN was not actually CNN. Further, no other news sites, reputable or otherwise, reported that Trump had been banned from Twitter. Both of those things are dead giveaways that the notion that Trump had been banned from Twitter was a hoax.

Nevertheless, hoaxes, fake news, and similarly unreliable reporting are all too common these days, and readers are always urged to check out what they’re reading against other news sites or fact-checking sites to make sure that what they’re reading is real news. And if it sounds too outrageous to be true, it probably is.

As for Twitter, the social media giant can and will suspend your account (you can appeal or be reinstated), and even delete it, for violating certain rules, according to the Terms of Service. One thing that will get you deleted from Twitter is “abusive behavior,” which is defined here and includes such things as threats, harassment, and hateful conduct.

Whether Donald Trump’s Twitter account does any of those things is left up to the reader, but one thing is for certain: as of this writing, Donald Trump has most certainly not been banned from Twitter.

[Featured Image by Carolyn Kaster/AP Images]

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