After four years of using Twitter as his primary platform, President Donald Trump will no longer reach his supporters virtually on any platform. On Jan. 8, Trump’s Internet presence began to collapse as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even Pinterest banned the President’s account on their platforms. 

After supporters of the president invaded the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, Trump released a video on Twitter, calling his supporters to stop the attack. His message continued to emphasize the narrative that he had won the election and as a result, it was flagged by Twitter. They  marked the tweet with the warning of “This claim of election fraud is disputed, and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence.” 

“I was already appalled by the amount of time it took for him to make the video, almost every other major politician spoke out, even President-Elect Biden doing so before him,” junior Delaney Rosenblatt said. “The actual message was very disappointing and did not help diffuse the situation.  It was not an appropriate response to the events, he needed to condemn these violent actions immediately, but instead, he stated how he loved the riot participants, and wanted them to ‘go home and get rest’.”

While free speech is a fundamental right in the Constitution, privately-owned social media sites can set community guidelines. When broken, for example by using the platform to incite violence, sites are free to suspend or even ban the account from their service

“I think that Trump’s supporters are furious but not only with the banning of Trump but the complete censorship of all his supporters with large followings,” senior Alejandro Morales said. “With the ban of conservatives mainly from Twitter and Facebook, the 74 million people that voted for him now have their voices silenced and will be attacked for supporting him.”

Whether or not the President of the United States should be banned from communicating with the American people in such a large way, is a big deal, but there is no question that being permanently suspended from practically every corner of the internet is a turning point in the history of social media. 

“I think [the social media ban] will confirm any suspicions of media bias that his supporters harbor,” junior Mia Comas said. “I think it is a point in his presidency where it doesn’t stop the spread of his rhetoric but it instead martyrized him to his supporters.”     

Should former President Trump be banned from social media?

• Yes
• NO

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