President Trump will lose his current world-leader-status exemptions from Twitter’s policies after Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, exposing him to stricter moderation.
Twitter has confirmed that Trump’s personal account could face restrictions or even a ban if he continues proliferating what the platform considers “conspiracy theories” after becoming a private citizen, The Independent reported. (RELATED: Benjamin Netanyahu Removes Trump From His Twitter Profile Picture)
Twitter applies unique policies to world leaders and various public officials of major importance, leaving rule-infringing content unremoved if the public has a “clear” interest in being able to access such content, according to The Verge.
After noon, January 20, however, Trump will be ineligible for this protection and will have to follow the same guidelines as regular citizens, a Twitter spokesperson told Forbes on Thursday.
The spokesperson—speaking to Forbes on the condition of anonymity—stated that Twitter doesn’t have “special rules” for Trump, and refused to discuss or confirm any internal deliberations about the aftermath of banning Trump after he leaves the White House.
Having nearly 88.6 million followers, Trump ranks among Twitter’s top accounts, just under ex-president Obama, who boasts 125 million followers, the Independent reports.
Taking a jab at the outgoing president’s frequent use of the social media platform, incoming President-Elect Biden has previously written that when he becomes president, people will not have to be concerned about his tweets.
You won’t have to worry about my tweets when I’m president.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 30, 2020
Censoring Trump after the coming inauguration would not be Twitter’s first act in content-restriction. In October, a month before the election, Twitter blocked the New York Post’s account after they refused to delete a tweet linking to a controversial story about Hunter Biden, Fox News reported.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was among a group of GOP leaders who described the censorship as ‘election interference,’ according to New York Times.