Is this the end of Trumps’ social media presence?

Donald Trump has been banned from both Twitter and Facebook, due to his tweets regarding the Capitol raids that created shockwaves both domestically and internationally.

On Wednesday the 6th of January, the Capitol was raided by a mob of furious Trump supporters, who disrupted the process of naming Joe Biden the next president of the USA. Instead, they broke into the Senate's office claiming, “Trump won the election”. 

Inevitably, a cacophony of tweets and statements from officials were released immediately after the raid. Barack Obama called it a"moment of great dishonour and shame for our country,", and Biden was outraged at these “domestic terrorists”. Even Texas republican Sen. Ted Cruz, an ally of Trump, named it a “despicable act of terrorism.”

Donald Trump had quite a different approach in responding. The ex-president announced, “We love you” and called the rioters “patriots”. Even with his brief mention of how his supporters should go home, the tweets where he appears to indirectly praise and portray this mob in a positive light, rightfully created outrage within the US.

Mark Zuckerberg, owner of these social media platforms, made the decision to ‘ban Trump indefinitely’ from Facebook and Instagram , and impose a 12 hour Twitter block. Zuckerberg himself tweeted “His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US”. He added that the risks of having Trump on these social platforms was “too great”. 

After the 12- hour period finished, Trump’s twitter account was restored, but this is essentially his final warning. If he posts any other content that violates the guidelines and ‘Civic integrity and violent threat policies’, he will be permanently removed. His access to Facebook and Instagram has been restricted for at least the next two weeks, to ensure “the peaceful transition of power is complete” from Trump to Biden.

The public can only speculate as to when this outspoken and brash politician may breach the platform rules, and as to whether the end of Trump’s online existence may be near. For a politician with such an extensive history of outrageously controversial tweets, I am just surprised his limited social media presence has not come sooner.