Twitter plans to further enforce its ban on former President Donald Trump by preventing the U.S. government from using its platform to host an archive of posts made from his defunct personal account.
A spokesperson for Twitter confirmed the social media company has been working with the National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, to preserve tweets originally posted by @realDonaldTrump.
“We have a long-standing, collaborative partnership with NARA on a number of issues, including to preserve records in accordance with appropriate laws,” the spokesperson said Thursday.
Twitter will not host those posts on its platform, however, the spokesperson said, citing the decision it made three months earlier to ban Mr. Trump for violating its rule against glorifying violence.
“Given that we permanently suspended @realDonaldTrump, the content from the account will not appear on Twitter as it did previously or as archived administration accounts do currently, regardless of how NARA decides to display the data it has preserved,” the spokesperson said. “Administration accounts that are archived on the service are accounts that were not in violation of the Twitter Rules.”
Indeed, NARA currently runs dozens of Twitter accounts containing archived tweets originally posted on the platform by government officials and agencies during the Obama or Trump administrations.
A spokesperson for NARA indicated the agency plans to make sure Mr. Trump’s old social media postings are made publicly accessible regardless of them having to be hosted somewhere besides Twitter.
“NARA intends to provide public access to all captured and preserved Presidential Record social media, including any blocked or deleted Tweets that have been transferred to us,” said a NARA spokesperson, Fox News reported.
“Twitter is solely responsible for the decision of what content is available on their platform,” the NARA spokesperson said, Fox News reported. “NARA works closely with Twitter and other social media platforms to maintain archived social accounts from each presidential administration, but ultimately the platform owners can decline to host these accounts. NARA preserves platform independent copies of social media records and is working to make that content available to the public.”
A message requesting comment from Mr. Trump was not immediately answered.
Twitter banned Mr. Trump’s personal account on Jan. 8, two days after mobs of his supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol over the Republican incumbent’s electoral loss to Democratic President Biden.
Archived copies of the posts made by the @realDonaldTrump account before it was permanently suspended can be found elsewhere online currently.
Politico first reported about Twitter refusing to host Mr. Trump’s archived tweets.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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