Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Twitter Republicans Politics

Trump Will Lose His Twitter 'Public Interest' Protections In January (theverge.com) 375

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares the Verge's report that U.S. President Donald Trump "will lose Twitter privileges he enjoys as a world leader when President-Elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20th, 2021." Twitter confirmed that Trump's @realDonaldTrump account will be subject to the same rules as any other user — including bans on inciting violence and posting false information about voting or the coronavirus pandemic.

Twitter applies special policies to world leaders and some other officials, leaving rule-breaking content online if there's "a clear public interest value to keeping the tweet on the service." The public interest policy was formalized in 2019, codifying a rule that had been informally enforced for some time... "This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions," a Twitter spokesperson confirms to The Verge.

These changes will cover Trump's personal account. Position-specific accounts like @WhiteHouse, @POTUS, and @FLOTUS are transferred to a new administration after an outgoing president steps down.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Trump Will Lose His Twitter 'Public Interest' Protections In January

Comments Filter:
  • What a relief (Score:5, Insightful)

    by divide overflow ( 599608 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:00PM (#60701060)
    Better yet, the press will have no reason whatsoever to print the endless stream of horseshit and lies he constantly spews. It's like a breath of fresh air.
    • Re: What a relief (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by kenh ( 9056 )

      Mark my words, the press obsessed over trump as a private citizen, as a candidate, then as President - what makes you think the press will ignore him once he leaves office?

      You may want them to - they may want to themselves - but they are addicted to the clicks and page loads.

      Will millions of people click thru a link to read how Biden managed to get thru a 15 minute TelePrompTer speech only getting lost (as indicated by his now signature trademark line "Come on Man!") once?

      How VP Harris took her Wicked Witch

    • Re: What a relief (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Lije Baley ( 88936 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:37PM (#60701178)

      The press should never have been sourcing anything from Twitter. Problem solved.

    • Jesus H Christ, i really can't wait.

  • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:08PM (#60701080)

    As in, when he turns back into a normal user, will Twitter revisit all the BS he's twitted over the years and delete his account for massive breach of TOS?

  • by nebaz ( 453974 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:11PM (#60701088)

    I remember reading at one point the national archives have to keep anything that has been sent out from his @realDonaldTrump account. (As opposed to the official POTUS trump account.). If he gets banned or his account deleted, will this be available for the archives to use?

  • by Yurka ( 468420 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:16PM (#60701096) Homepage

    dude can start banning people in his account again (Knight First Amendment Institute v. Trump)

  • I guess some people are still going to care what he has to say but really for most of us it will be a very pleasant experience to simply stop giving a shit

    • I'm definitely going to be following his twitter while he's doing the slow speed car chase in the golf cart when they come to arrest him.

    • Wait, you gave a shit before? Why?? Do you like vile turds being thrown at your face? (Not judging! ;)

      • I did, but only in so much as media outlets around the world felt compelled to quote his twitter activity. It occurs to me now how absurd it is that even the mostly highly regarded news sources (e.g. the BBC) were dragged down to the level of printing twitter screen shots when reporting important global news stories. I still remember laughing the first time I saw a public twitter feed on a news show, how insane and cheap it seemed. Orange Fizz has somehow managed to make that normal now.

  • by memory_register ( 6248354 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @08:57PM (#60701244)
    Here is my bet: Trump mouths off, Twitter bans him, he starts an alternative network. A good 30% of users go with him.

    If I were Twitter, I'd be wary of the banhammer, at least if I valued my network size.
  • .... his twitter account as soon as he started using it as a political communications medium.

    It's one thing if private person's want to engage in political discussions, but what he was doing more rightly belonged on a system specifically designed for executive branch communication.

  • Will he be transferred straight to prison, or do we have to wait a bit more?
    • Well, do you want to be a Trump? Because without a fair trial for the worst members of your society, that's how you become a Trump.

      It's only a right, if it applies to *everyone*.

  • by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Sunday November 08, 2020 @09:56PM (#60701402)

    That any world leader would stoop as low as even concerning itself with PR sound bite cesspools.

    A leader should show grace. And dignity. And be so intelligent and wise that you feel stupid just from comparing yourself to him and look up to him. Like a wise kung-fu master, except with less violent grind and more likable elegance. Like you imagine a true king, except in a really nice suit or the like.

    Why is this not part of the education of anyone who is aspiring to become the president? (Or maybe it is?)

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by beuges ( 613130 )

      And yet 70 million people looked at that ungraceful, undignified, stupid moron and decided "hmm, yes, this is the man who best represents my interests and the interests of our country to the rest of the world".

      It seems that there's more education that's required for the general American population rather than for the candidates, so that people like Trump never get the chance to embarrass their country for 4 years. If the public decided to elect a talking orangutan as their leader, it's the fault of the publ

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by sinij ( 911942 )

        It seems that there's more education that's required for the general American population ...

        I know! Lets start camps. We can call them re-education camps. We can round up and send all these Trump voters there.

        The question you should be asking yourself is what Democratic party did wrong that people voted for "ungraceful, undignified, stupid moron" in record numbers despite knowing exactly who he is. Including record turnout of black and Latino voters for Trump. I will give you a hint - it is the identity politics of Woke that turn people off.

  • They should just change his status from "Public Interest" into "Comedy".

  • Don't worry, he's going to go back to reality TV.

    Please susbscribe, all my dear Real American friends, to
    The RealWhitehouse channel, starring me, @realdonaldtrump.... It's going to be tremendous....
    Don't watch that Fake News!
    RealWhitehouse - it's all-white, all the time.
    People are going to love it. Just wait and see.
  • If Trump really wants to fight, he'll create his own TV network and online service. He'd probably have 50 million signups in the first month.

  • by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Monday November 09, 2020 @08:52AM (#60702810) Homepage Journal

    Or maybe Twitter will lose its platform protections, get classified as publisher, then promptly sued to oblivion for all the defamatory statements users have posted.

Were there fewer fools, knaves would starve. - Anonymous

Working...