Trump Joins the List: Politicians, Activists, and Journalists Who Have Been Blocked by Twitter

President Donald Trump was permanently banned by Twitter on Friday, with the company claiming that some of POTUS’ recent tweets have jeopardised the US presidential elections and glorified violence.

The president’s campaign account – @TeamTrump – and those belonging to two of his loyal supporters – former national security advisor Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell – have also been blocked.

They join the list of political outcasts who have been targeted by Twitter team in the past. Most of those previously excluded from the platform expressed some clear conservative inclinations.

Here's a list featuring some of Twitter's most notable banishments. 

Political Activists, Republican Candidates and Iranian Minister

• Tommy Robinson: Former English Defence League leader was permanently blocked from the platform in March, 2018 over the “hateful conduct” rule. Robinson, who advised ex-UKIP leader Gerard Batten, said back then that the ban was caused by a tweet in which he argued that “Islam promotes killing people.”
• Briscoe Cain: Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives was suspended by Twitter for 141 days back in September, 2019 following a tweet perceived by many as a “death threat” against Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke. When returning to the platform, he wasted no time in re-sharing the screenshot of the post.

  The government ain’t Santa Claus.
  
  If the government has money to give away, it means it taxed too much.

  — 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐢𝐧 (@BriscoeCain) December 24, 2020​

• Britain First Leaders: Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the head and deputy head of Britain First political party respectively, saw their personal and group’s accounts suspended in 2017, after sharing some clips purportedly portraying Muslims as violent. The videos were re-tweeted by US President Trump.
• Kanye West: Not only a musician, producer, businessman, and former Trump endorser but also an official 2020 presidential candidate, once lost access to his account after revealing the phone number of Forbes magazine's editor on his Twitter.

Conservative Voices Banned

• Alex Jones and InfoWars: Conservative journalist Alex Jones is one of the most outspoken Twitter targets. His personal accounts, as well as those linked to his InfoWars website, were blocked forever by the social media giant over “abusive behaviour” after “numerous violations and warnings.”

Those who are banished from the platform for good are not usually told which tweets are responsible. 

When President Trump’s account was first temporarily suspended on Wednesday following the storming of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC by rioters – as he has continued disputing the results of the 3 November presidential vote – Twitter said he had been temporarily banned for "repeated and severe violations” of its Civic Integrity policy.

But after he tweeted that he will not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration and cheered 75 million of his supporters for having “a GIANT VOICE long into the future,” the platform blocked him forever, publicly declaring that his claims can again be seen as undermining the legitimacy of the 3 November vote.