#PiersMorgan #AngelaMerkel #UK #Germany #Trump #Twitter #BigTech #Censorship #Iran #China
It's been eerily quiet on Twitter since Donald Trump was kicked off the platform last Friday evening, silencing the world's biggest social media foghorn.
There was an immediate and urgent imperative to temporarily shut Trump down given the horrendous rampage at the US Capitol on Wednesday that he had so outrageously and recklessly fuelled, which was the very genuine fear there will be more violence from his frenzied mob of supporters - a threat that remains extremely high given just how dangerously brain-washed they have become thanks to Trump's incessant false claims to have had the election 'stolen' from him.
But this wasn't just a suspension.
Twitter announced it was banning Trump for life.
(I refuse to call him 'President' anymore because he shouldn't be, and very soon won't be.)
It said: 'After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence. In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.'
It's hard not to argue with the logic of this statement if you believe, as I do, that Trump was directly responsible for his supporters attacking the Capitol and therefore attacking the very heart of American democracy to try to overturn a fair and democratic election result.
He screamed at them to 'STOP THE STEAL!' and Trump's thuggish goons like Rudy Giuliani urged them to use 'combat'.
The message was crystal clear: go to the Capitol and stop democracy happening.
So, they went there and tried, and thankfully failed – but six people died as a result of events that day including a police officer brutally murdered in the line of duty, and the mob being seen on camera chanting 'HANG MIKE PENCE!'
It was one of the darkest days in American history and the buck starts and stops with Donald Trump who didn't just lose the election but has lost his mind too.
As I wrote in the aftermath, he should be removed from office immediately and barred from ever running again.
But that doesn't necessarily justify Twitter's permanent ban on him, at least not if the tech giant wants to even pretend to be fair and consistent about their censorship policies.
In its statement, it explained: 'Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open. However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence. We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.'
Fine words, but how does Twitter square this with the fact that Ayatollah Khamenei of Iran still has an account?
The man who tweeted this in June 2018: 'Our stance against Israel is the same stance we have always taken. Israel is a malignant cancerous tumour in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated: it is possible and it will happen.'
Khamenei is self-evidently a world leader using Twitter not just to incite violence against a whole country and its 8.8 million people, but to have it and them 'eradicated'.
He also made a direct threat against Americans for the killing of Iran's military supremo General Soleimani a year ago, tweeting on December 16, 2020: 'Those who ordered the murder of General Soleimani as well as those who carried this out shall be punished. This revenge will certainly happen at the right time.'
That threat has not been deleted, presumably meaning Twitter doesn't consider that it contravenes its policies.
And Khamenei's Twitter account remains active, which is truly ironic given that he has banned 83 million Iranians from using it.
