Twitter confirmed when President-Elect Joe Biden takes office as the United States president on January 20th, 2021, present President Donald Trump will lose the special privileges enjoyed by a world leader. His Twitter account will be subject to the same rules as a normal user.
Lose of special privileges includes a ban on posting false information about voting or coronavirus pandemic and violence-inciting posts on the platform. At present, the Twitter flag wrong claims by the president as disputed.
“Twitter’s approach to world leaders, candidates, and public officials is based on the principle that people should be able to choose to see what their leaders are saying with a clear context. This means that we may apply warnings and labels, and limit engagement to certain tweets. This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” said a Twitter spokesperson to The Verge.
The new changes will be applicable to his personal account. While position-specific accounts related to the White House like @WhiteHouse, @POTUS, and @FLOTUS are normally transferred to the new president.
Public Interest rules
Twitter takes actions on those tweets that violate the platform’s rules. However, when an elected or government official posts any such tweets, the platform leaves it up to the person posted in rare cases. But often the tweet is placed behind a notice that allows users to click through or not.
“Placing a Tweet behind this notice also limits the ability to engage with the Tweet through likes, Retweets, or sharing on Twitter, and makes sure the Tweet isn’t algorithmically recommended by Twitter. These actions are meant to limit the Tweet’s reach while maintaining the public’s ability to view and discuss it,” says Twitter.
Criteria for an exception on tweets
- Tweets violating one or more rules.
- A tweet posted from a verified account.
- A Twitter account with more than 10,000 followers.
- An account representing a current or potential member of a state, national, or member of the government.
- Appointed leaders or candidate nominees for a political office.
Promotion of terrorism and violence by leaders
The platform mentioned that world leaders can be subjected to enforcement if they promote terrorism or make threats against individuals or post private information related to someone’s home address. Even if such accounts post intimate photos or videos without one’s consent.
President Trump, unlike previous presidents Barack Obama who was also active on the platform used the platform very differently. Trump used the platform to spread false untrue and inflammatory information through his tweets.
Other social platforms such as Facebook, have also started posting a warning on Trump’s posts since election night. Many of his posts about false claims and fraud allegations about voting are marked with warning labels.
Trump famously used Twitter not just to post wrong facts but also to threaten world leaders and his decisions on important foreign relations of the country. He used the platform to announce many of his decisions such as a ban on some Muslim countries to travel to the USA.