Twitter explains why it won’t ban Donald Trump

Photo by Vic Berger

Every day, President Donald Trump blasts out tweets that make America look petty, vindictive, and just so, so excited to engage in nuclear war. This has led a vocal contingent of Twitter users to call for the dickbag to be banned, especially in the wake of the neo-nazis, white supremacists, and hatemongers that the platform’s finally got around to removing, many of whom praised Trump for the numerous “dog whistles” he blew in the wake of the 2017 Charlottesville march. If he’s going to spout off, at least let him do it on White House stationary. Or on Gab, which only assholes use.

It was highly unlikely that such a high-profile company to ever would ban him, but so long as they refused the address the situation there remained the chance that, one day, they might make it easier for us not to live in constant fear of our president’s fat-ass fingers.

Alas, it is not to be. Today, Twitter dropped a new blog post that, hilariously, refused to name Trump as it defended its decision not to ban “elected world leaders.”

“Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society,” the post reads. “Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets, would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.”

Recently, protestors used projections on Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters to shame the social media juggernaut for not doing enough to stem the tide amongst its users, and the nonprofit group Color of Change launched a petition urging the platform to rid itself of Trump.

“We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them and enforce our rules accordingly,” they write, a statement we’re supposed to take seriously in the wake of Trump bragging about the size of his “nuclear button.”

“No one person’s account drives Twitter’s growth or influences these decisions,” they continue. “We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.”

Read the full statement below:

There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance.

Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society.

Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.

We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly. No one person’s account drives Twitter’s growth, or influences these decisions. We work hard to remain unbiased with the public interest in mind.

We are working to make Twitter the best place to see and freely discuss everything that matters. We believe that’s the best way to help our society make progress.