Twitter prepared pro-Trump protesters outside its San Francisco headquarters on Monday after the president was banned from the platform.
The tech giant permanently suspended Trump on Friday, citing a “risk of incitement to violence” following the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters. The stock fell 10% shortly after the bell opened on Monday.
Police told The San Francisco Chronicle that they were aware of a possible protest and had been in contact with the social media giant. A police car was parked in front of the building on Sunday and barriers were erected, NBC reports.
No official demonstration has been planned, but online talks suggest Trump’s fans may decide to rally them to protest the decision.
On Saturday, a post suggested that those present should make “strong” connections with “citizens who arrest violent agitators.” Another allegedly told demonstrators to cover their faces with masks and hats.
Twitter employees have not been in the office since March last year, at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Its CEO, Jack Dorsey, reportedly made an extraordinary appeal to permanently suspend Trump’s account while he was on vacation in French Polynesia.
The abandonment of Twitter’s permanent ban on Trump continued over the weekend, as his eldest son attacked the social media site, and loyalists fled to alternatives such as Gab and Parler.
“People laugh at America and Mao, Lenin and Stalin smile. Is high technology capable of censoring the president? Freedom of expression is dead and controlled by left-wing leaders, “Don Trump Jr. said in a tweet on Saturday, urging supporters to join his mailing list:” In case it follows. ”
On Monday, he redistributed a post that read: “The Internet was much safer before @Twitter, @Apple, @Google and @Facebook started to protect us from it”, writing: “1000 times”.
On Friday, Twitter also banned two Trump loyalists – former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell – as part of a larger purge of accounts that promotes QAnon conspiracy theory.
Twitter prepares pro-Trump protesters in front of its San Francisco headquarters on Monday, following a ban on the president on the platform
Officers were stationed outside the building on Sunday and barriers were erected, NBC reports
San Francisco officer Adam Lobsinger said in a statement: “SFPD has been in contact with Twitter representatives. We will have enough resources available to answer any demonstration as well as citywide service calls.
“The San Francisco Police Department is committed to facilitating the public’s right to freedom of expression in the First Amendment. We demand that all those who exercise their First Amendment rights be attentive, respectful and attentive to the safety of others. ‘
John Dennis, president of the Republican Party in San Francisco, said: “When the company has an unequal application of the terms of service, you will receive a response.
– It will happen. So, I don’t know the specifics of this protest, but I suspect you will see many of them.
Twitter saw shares fall 10% in early trading on Monday
Twitter said in a statement: “Although we respect people’s right to express their opinions, we have been transparent about the factors that led to our decision last week.
“We have nothing to add, but we wanted to confirm that we continue to have mandatory home guidance for Twitter employees.”
Facebook suspended Trump’s account on Thursday until January 20, the day of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and possibly indefinitely.
The frustrations that fuel Parler, the right-wing social networking site, also disappeared from the web and disappeared Monday from Apple and Google app stores after tech giants severed ties with the platform.
Parler went offline shortly after 3:00 a.m. EST after Amazon launched the platform on its web hosting service, effectively shutting it down until it can find a new hosting partner.
Hailed by Trump supporters as a conservative alternative to Twitter, the site is seen as a magnet for the far right and has been accused by Apple, Google and Amazon of continuing to allow messages that incite violence after Wednesday’s riot.
Parler, which some of the outrages had used to help plan the insurrection, was the most downloaded app in the Apple store on Friday, before both Apple and Google cut off access to their app stores.
CEO John Matze warned in his final post before the 3:00 deadline that “we will probably drop more than we expected” as technology companies distance themselves from the “free speech” site.
On Friday, Twitter also banned two Trump loyalists – former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell – as part of a larger purge of accounts that promotes QAnon conspiracy theory. Twitter has said it will take action for behavior that has the potential to lead to harm offline
Trump, sheltered in the White House, was increasingly isolated after a mob revolted in the Capitol in support of his false claims of electoral fraud.
Pro-Trump protesters entered the US Chapter building on Wednesday
Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, who had a Parler account, was upset with what he called “political censorship” after Apple and Google removed the app.
“Spread the word so that your American colleagues know about it,” he urged his three million followers on the site.
Right-wing expert Ben Shapiro warned on Twitter that “the world’s technologies are making a horrible and dangerous moment much more horrible and dangerous.”
“Consistent standards do not apply. There is a reactionary degradation on behalf of a party, ‘he said.
“Everyone on the right is rightly concerned that the same companies are five minutes away from simply eliminating the ability of conservatives to host content anywhere.”
Social media repression has revived a debate over whether technology giants should be treated as “publishers” with the same responsibility as news providers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo posted on Twitter an image of an analytical tool that shows that key elected Democrats are gaining tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, while key Republicans are losing them at the same rate.
“That’s how you create an echo chamber …” Pompeo wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that parliament would pass legislation to prosecute Trump while pushing the vice president and cabinet to invoke constitutional authority to force him.
Hailed by supporters of Donald Trump as a conservative alternative to Twitter, Parler is seen as a magnet for the far right and has been accused by Apple, Google and Amazon of continuing to allow messages that incite violence after Wednesday’s Capitol attack.
Shortly after 3:00 a.m. EST, Parler disappeared from the web with an error message saying “we can’t connect to the server” after Amazon fired
In his last post before the 3:00 deadline, Matze said that “most people with enough servers to host us have closed our doors.”
Trump, sheltered in the White House, was increasingly isolated after a mob revolted in the Capitol in support of his false claims of electoral fraud.
After his personal account was banned on Friday, Trump logged into his @POTUS account and launched the idea that he could build his own “platform”.
A crowd of Trump supporters overwhelmed police, smashed security lines and windows on Wednesday, and crossed the Chapter on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to disperse as they completed Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College.
Banning Trump, Twitter said in a statement: “In the context of this week’s horrific events, I said on Wednesday that further violations of the Twitter Rules could result in this very course of action.
“Our public interest framework exists to allow the public to hear directly from elected and world leaders. It is based on a principle that people have the right to be held accountable for their power.
“However, we made it clear years ago that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.”