Published 15:52 IST, October 17th 2019
Twitter rejects Kamala Harris demand, won't suspend Trump's account
Twitter decided not to suspend the account of Donald Trump after Senator Kamala Harris wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey claiming violation of rules.
- Entertainment News
- 3 min read
Twitter has decided not to suspend the account of US President Donald Trump after Senator Kamala Harris wrote a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, claiming that Trump’s tweets violated the terms of the user agreement. Twitter, in a statement, said that the actions of world leaders on Twitter are ‘largely new ground and unprecedented’. “We understand the desire for our decisions to be ‘yes/no’ binaries, but it’s not that simple,” said Twitter.
Accountability of big tech companies
Kamala Harris has repeatedly accused the US President of inciting violence, threatening witnesses and obstructing justice through the social media platform. “We can't crack down on Facebook but turn a blind eye to Twitter. Big tech companies must be held accountable for how they allow him to abuse their platforms,” tweeted the Senator from California.
Letter to Jack Dorsey
On September 29, Trump, in a series of tweets, said that if Democrats get successful in removing the President from office, “it will cause a Civil War like fracture” in the nation. In a letter to Dorsey, Harris said the tweets were blatant threats and that “we need a civil society, not a civil war.”
“These tweets represent a clear intent to baselessly discredit the whistleblower and officials in our government who are following the proper channels to report allegations of presidential impropriety, all while making blatant threats that put people at risk and our democracy in danger,” wrote Harris.
Twitter's response to the letter
Twitter said that the account of world leaders are not above the company’s policies, but they also have a responsibility to the people who use Twitter to better explain why they make the decisions they make.
“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 through should they wish to see the content,” said Twitter, pointing towards its June announcement where it had defined ‘public interest on Twitter.’
Updated 16:12 IST, October 17th 2019