The most recent installment of the “Twitter Files,” a series of documents that lift the lid on Twitter's internal debate prior to controversial censorship decisions, provides more information on the decision to remove Donald Trump from the platform in January 2021.
The documents, which were given to former New York Times writer Bari Weiss, revealed that employees from the Twitter's Trust & Safety department did not think that the former president had violated any laws at the time the ban was imposed, but, this decision was overruled by an intervention by the arch-progressive Vijaya Gadde.
The documents also show that the CEO Jack Dorsey was involved in the decision to revoke Trump's account, which puts an end to the long-running rumor that Gadde was the one who made the decision on her own when Dorsey was away on vacation and not able to reach her.
But they were overwhelmed by a larger chorus that demanded that Twitter consider Trump to be the “leader of a terrorist group.”
On January 8, Donald Trump posted two tweets that certain Twitter employees tried to portray in the context of “incitement.”
“The 75 million amazing American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and help to make AMERICA GREAT again, will be able to have a huge voice long in the near future. The American Patriots will never be slandered or unjustly treated in any way either way I am so proud of them!”
“To all who have inquired, I'm not going to the ceremony on the 20th of January.”
Even Twitter's trust and security department, which is known for being run by extremists, found that neither of these tweets was in violation of the terms of service for the platform.
Anika Navaroli, a Twitter policy official, informed employees on Jan. 8 that the trust and security department “assessed the DJT Tweet above and determined that there is no violation of our policies at this time,” in reference to Trump's tweet regarding “75 million great American Patriots.”
The second tweet was thought to be a “clear” non-violation of policy. “It's just to say he's not attending the inauguration,” an employee said.
Following this decision made by the trust and security review team, the arch-progressive Vijaya Gadde intervened in the debate to inquire whether, despite the fact that Trump's initial tweet appeared to be “not a clear violation on its face,” could be taken in the sense of “coded incitement to further violence.”
In her Twitter post, Weiss noted that other present and former heads of states were allowed to stay on Twitter despite more explicit violations of the rules of Twitter policy.
They also included explicit incitements to violence, such as the former Malaysian PM who claimed that Muslims were entitled to the “right” to kill “millions of French people for the massacres of the past,” and the present Ethiopian Prime Minister's call in 2021 for Ethiopian citizens to be armed against Ethiopia's Tigray minority.
Following the intervention of Gadde, employees of Twitter's “scaled enforcement team,” stated that the tweet could constitute a violation of the policy in the event that “great American Patriots” was read as a reference to the rioters that committed unlawful actions.
Just a few hours before, President Trump had condemned the violence at the Capitol in a statement that described it as a “heinous attack.”
After the team of enforcers suggested a new interpretation for Trump's tweets, Twitter executives held a 30-minute all-hands conference during which Dorsey and Gadde were asked questions about the reason why Trump was not banned yet.
After this discussion, as well as amid constant criticism from employees furious by the fact that Trump was not yet banned, Dorsey appeared to cave in, and requested a public statement to provide a reason for the suspension of Trump's account.
An hour later, Twitter announced Trump's permanent suspension “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
At Twitter, celebrations broke out.
