After the January 6th Capitol Attack supporters of President Donald J. Trump urged social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook, to limit hate speech and the glorification of violence on their platforms.
January 6, 2021: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and cruelly taken away from great patriots who have been treated badly and unfairly for so long,” Trump tweeted, with an accompanying message on Facebook. Other posts include a video telling his supporters to “go home now,” while also offering encouragement such as “I know how you feel.” Twitter and Facebook eventually delete both posts and say that the president will be suspended at least until the next day.
January 7, 2021† Facebook Blocks Mr Trump until the end of his term, or until January 20. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the risks that Trump would use the service were too great. Mr Trump posts a video on Twitter saying he will support a peaceful transfer of power.
January 8, 2021: Twitter permanently blocks Mr Trump from his service “because of the risk of further incitement to violence”, effectively cutting him off from his favorite megaphone.
January 10, 2021: Stripped of a platform, Mr Trump faces a challenge in find a new way to attract attention†
June 4, 2021: facebook updates its position on the suspension of Mr Trump’s account, saying it would take at least two years. Facebook also says it will end a policy of treating posts by politicians differently from those of other users.
June 7, 2021: Times reporters analyze hundreds of online communications and posts and discover that Mr Trump’s most ardent supporters continued to spread his message after the ban – do the work that he himself could not have done.
February 18, 2022: Truth Social, Mr Trump’s alternative to Twitter, has had to delay its rollout, even if the field of sites pitching themselves as freer platforms get busier†
April 27, 2022: Truth Social is flooded with fake accounts and features that don’t work, our technical reviewer writes:†
May 6, 2022: A federal judge in San Francisco who said he… not convinced that Twitter had infringed on Mr. Trump’s freedom of speech, dismisses Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the company.
May 10, 2022: Elon Musk, who is in the process of buying Twitter, says he Trump’s “undoing the permanent ban” and have him back on the social network if the deal goes through.
May 13, 2022: Elon Musk said in a tweet that his $44 billion bid to buy Twitter was “temporarily on hold” until he could get more details to confirm that spam and fake accounts represent less than 5 percent of the social network’s total number of users.
