Tag: Donald Trump Twitter account

Freedom Fridays: Musk reinstates 3 banned accounts, starts poll on Donald Trump’s return

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Twitter’s new boss Elon Musk reinstated certain banned accounts on the microblogging site on Friday, while asking users to vote on whether former US President Donald Trump should be reinstated on the platform. Musk also announced a new policy on content moderation of “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach”.

The decisions come amid mass exodus of employees following Musk’s ultimatum to stay and work “long hours at high intensity” or leave with three months’ severance pay. More than expected number of employees opted for the latter option, reports said.

Musk first tweeted a spoiler alert calling it “Freedom Fridays”, following which he announced that the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative parody site Babylon Bee were reinstated.

Also Read: Elon Musk cryptic reply to former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s ambiguous tweet

“Trump decision has not yet been made,” he wrote on Twitter.

Kathie Griffin, Jorden Peterson & Babylon Bee have been reinstated.

Trump decision has not yet been made.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

Griffin’s account was banned only 11 days earlier after she switched her username to Elon Musk. Griffin impersonated Musk related to a tweet about the midterm elections. Musk had earlier said the comedian would be allowed back onto the platform if she paid the $8 fee for the new Twitter Blue feature. Griffin has two million Twitter followers.

Also Read: Elon Musk says “long tweets” coming soon to Twitter — here’s what could be new

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson’s account was banned in June for tweets about transgender actor Elliot Page that broke the site’s rules on hateful conduct. When asked to remove the post that commented against the rights of transgender people, Peterson he said he would “rather die” than delete it, The Verge reported.

The Babylon Bee was suspended from Twitter in March for similar tweets misgendering Rachel Levine, who is also a trans woman serving as US assistant secretary of health.

After reinstating these banned Twitter accounts, Musk started a poll on whether former US President Donald Trump should be welcomed back to the platform.

Also Read: Views | The worst for Twitter is yet to come!

Trump was banned by the former owners of Twitter in 2021 following the Capitol Hill riots on January 6 “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. Earlier this week, Trump announced that he would contest for the top post again in the 2024 elections.

According to a Reuters report, with 22 hours left for the poll to be completed, it had already received over 2 million votes with about 60 percent of respondents voting “yes”.

In May, weeks after agreeing to buy Twitter, Musk had expressed his disagreement over the ban on Trump and said his account access would be restored. Musk had termed the ban as “a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country”. He also said that it undermined trust in Twitter.

Also Read: Elon Musk says Twitter to soon enable organisations to identify their associated accounts

In his latest policy update, Musk said tweets containing “negative” or “hate” content would be maximum “deboosted and demonetised”, which meant they will not be broadly shared on the platform. The social media platform will not have advertising or other revenue opportunities placed near them.

“You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from the rest of the Internet,” Musk explained.

New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.

Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.

You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

Later he clarified that the policy applied just to the individual tweet and not the whole account.

Twitter has been witnessing mass resignations after Musk gave employees the option to choose between being “extremely hardcore” and working long hours or losing their jobs.

Also Read: Koo offers to hire some Twitter staff and help users migrate with old tweets

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Twitter, Facebook suspend Trump accounts after violence at US Capitol

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In an unprecedented move, Twitter and Facebook have suspended President Donald Trump’s accounts after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the November 3 election following the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters. Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours and also blocked three of his tweets including a video of his address to his supporters.

As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy, Twitter Safety said. This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked, said the social media company.

Twitter also warned of permanent suspension of Trump’s account if he continued to violate its policies. Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account, it said. ”Our public interest policy which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher and/or more severe, it said, adding that it will continue to evaluate the situation in real-time, including examining activity on the ground and statements made off Twitter. We will keep the public informed, including if further escalation in our enforcement approach is necessary, it said.

Facebook said it would be blocking the president’s account from posting for 24 hours due to two policy violations. One of Trump’s tweets that was removed by Twitter included a video of him repeating unfounded claims that the election was taken from him and encouraging his supporters to disperse after violence erupted at the Capitol. He said that law and order were needed and that he loved his supporters.

Facebook and YouTube have removed the video from Trump’s accounts. Trump posted that video after protesters entered the Capitol, interrupting lawmakers meeting in joint session to confirm the Electoral College results and President-elect Joe Bidens victory in the election. I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it–especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order, Trump said in his video that lasted for less than a minute. This was a fraudulent election but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace, so go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way, others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace, Trump said.

Trump has refused to concede the election. He alleges that there was a massive fraud and electoral malpractice. Election officials have denied the allegations. Facebook’s vice president integrity Guy Rosen said: This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence. In a blog post on October 15, 2019, Twitter said that the accounts of world leaders are not above its policies entirely. It listed out areas that will result in enforcement action for an account on its service.

Prominent among them include the promotion of terrorism, clear and direct threats of violence against an individual, posting private information, such as a home address or non-public personal phone number; and posting or sharing intimate photos or videos of someone that were produced or distributed without their consent.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Twitter restricts Trump’s tweet on voter fraud

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

How Donald Trump’s tweeting style shifted over time

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

By analysing patterns of US President Donald Trumps tweets, researchers have found that his posts have become more conversational and engaged than before. Trump’s tweets varied systematically before, during, and after the 2016 presidential campaign, depending on the communicative goals of the President and his team.

“This study presents the first detailed linguistic analysis of the style used on the Donald Trump Twitter account,” said study researcher Jack Grieve from the University of Birmingham.

“We find that the account shows clear patterns of stylistic variation over time and argue that these results provide a window into the communication strategy of Trump and his team during the campaign,” he added.

For the study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers downloaded the corpus of tweets sent from the ‘@realDonaldTrump’ Twitter account from 2009 and 2018 preserved in the Trump Twitter Archive.

By analysing patterns of grammatical co-occurrence, the researchers were able to identify four general style variations of Trump’s tweets: 1) conversational; 2) campaigning; 3) advisory; 4) engaged, and to observe how these stylistic patterns shifted over time.

The data suggest different communication strategies underlying Trump’s use of Twitter, particularly during the 2016 campaign depending on his communication goals, such as appealing to different audiences, defending criticism against Trump and his campaign, deflecting controversies and attacking opponents.

Tweets sent from his account may not all have been composed by a single author, as different members of the campaign likely had access to the account, nor is it possible to ascertain the amount of thought and care given to the composition of an individual tweet, the authors noted.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow