Despite the countless times he's violated Twitter's terms of service, Donald Trump remains on the social media site with no repercussions for his actions. Following a particularly insane Twitter outburst which saw him (again) threatening nuclear warfare against North Korea, protestors showed up outside Twitter's headquarters demanding to know why Trump hasn't received a ban yet. In a short statement posted to their blog, Twitter have explained why that is.
"There's been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance," the statement reads. "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 see and debate."
Twitter insists statements by Trump and other world leaders need to be seen in the context of the existing political climate. "We review Tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them, and enforce our rules accordingly," the company explained. Trump has threatened people on the site before, and has retweeted content from far-right British political organization Britain First, whose leaders were recently banned from Twitter following their dissemination of misleading, racist videos.
Trump's Twitter account was once deleted for 11 minutes, but it turned out to be nothing more than an employee messing about on his last day. It seems unlikely that Trump will ever receive a ban, unless he posts some graphic imagery or tweets out the nuclear launch codes by accident.
One of the most common criticisms leveled against Twitter's stance on Trump is that they've only allowed his account to stay unbanned because he brings traffic to the site. The company, however, reiterated, "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."
