In January 2021, After former US President Donald Trump tweeted in support of an insurrection at the Capitol, his account was frozen and he was locked out. But around the world, leaders have tweeted in support of genocide and threats of violence, but none of them have been banned from the platform. Less than six months later, in June 2021, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari posted a tweet threatening violence against Biafra separatist groups in the country’s southwest. Buhari’s tweet was deleted, but his account remained online.
Almost two years after Donald Trump was banned from TwitterElon Musk released a series of documents – dubbed the Twitter Files – claiming the site got it wrong. The leaked documents show how the platform made decisions before Musk took over, focusing on the former president and other controversial moderation decisions.
In the latest filing by Bari Weiss, founder and editor-in-chief of media organization The Free Press, Musk released several documents revealing how Twitter’s political and trust and safety teams made the decision to ban Trump from the aftermath of the Twitter insurrection. January 6, 2021.
In an argument laid out on Twitter, Weiss says the decision to ban Trump was unprecedented, a departure from the site’s reactions to other heads of state who have also incited or supported violence with their tweets. Weiss cited examples of Ethiopian, Indian, Nigerian and Iranian leaders who she said showed restraint on Twitter’s part when deciding whether to keep prominent political figures on the platform, even after violations. Twitter has not released documents detailing the decision to keep other public figures on the site.
While Weiss interpreted the reluctance to use such measures against other world leaders as evidence that Trump was treated particularly unfairly, the documents may also reveal the opposite: that the company systematically underestimated the danger posed its platform in contexts outside the United States and has acted only forcefully. against threats to American democracy. If Twitter had applied its rules uniformly across the world, Trump’s ban would have extended to other leaders as well.
“Vulnerable communities in distant countries are less important than relationships with leaders like [India’s Narendra] Modi or others,” says an employee of an organization that was part of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council, which was disbanded earlier this month. The employee requested anonymity because he fears his organization could be the target of harassment and threats like those faced by former Twitter employees.
