- The Washington Times - Thursday, February 18, 2021

Former President Donald Trump railed against Twitter while speaking Wednesday about being permanently suspended from the social media service last month in the aftermath of the riot on Capitol Hill.

“If you look at what’s going on with Twitter, I understand it’s become very boring, and millions of people are leaving. They’re leaving it because it’s not the same,” Mr. Trump said on Newsmax.

“It’s become very boring. We don’t want to go back to Twitter,” Mr. Trump said during a phone interview.

Twitter banned Mr. Trump on Jan. 8, two days after mobs of his supporters upset over him losing his race for reelection violently stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to formalize his defeat.

In the weeks and months before Twitter banned Mr. Trump, a prolific and popular user of its service, it flagged many of his posts for violating its rules and limited their visibility on the platform.

“We were being really harassed on Twitter,” Mr. Trump recalled on Newsmax. “They were putting up all sorts of flags. Everything I was saying was being flagged. It’s disgraceful.”

Twitter declined to comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks. In a letter to shareholders last week, the company said it had around 192 million daily active users at the end of 2020, up 27% year over year.

Tens of millions of Twitter accounts followed Mr. Trump’s profile on the platform, @realDonaldTrump, prior to his permanent suspension last month.

At the time, Twitter said it was banning Mr. Trump after determining his posts on the platform “were highly likely to encourage and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.” Five people died from the events and dozens of police officers were injured.

Ned Segal, Twitter’s chief financial officer, has since reiterated Mr. Trump remains banned from the social media service regardless of whether he decides to run for elected office again.

“When you’re removed from the platform, you’re removed from the platform,” Mr. Segal told CNBC earlier this month.

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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