Twitter braced itself on Monday for pro-Trump protesters outside its San Francisco headquarters after banning the president from the platform.
The tech giant permanently suspended Trump on Friday, citing a “ risk of further incitement to violence ” in the wake of its supporters storming the U.S. Capitol. That saw the stock drop 10 percent shortly after the bell opened on Monday.
Police told The San Francisco Chronicle they are aware of a possible protest and have been in contact with the social media giant. One police car was outside the building on Sunday and barriers were erected, NBC reports.
No official demonstration is planned, but talk online suggests that Trump fans may decide to rally to protest the decision.
A post on Saturday suggested that those in attendance should take “large” zip ties to “civilian arrest of violent agitators.” Another is said to have told protesters to cover their faces with masks and hats.
Twitter employees have been out of the office since March last year at the start of the coronavirus outbreak. CEO Jack Dorsey reportedly made the extraordinary call to permanently suspend Trump’s account while on vacation in French Polynesia.
The fallout from Trump’s permanent ban on Twitter continued this weekend as his eldest son lashed out at the social media site and loyalists fled to alternatives like Gab and Parler.
The world smiles at America and Mao, Lenin and Stalin smile. Can the big tech censor the president? Freedom of speech is dead and controlled by left-wing overlords, ” Don Trump Jr said in a tweet on Saturday, urging his followers to join his mailing list: “ In case I’m next. ‘
On Monday, he retweeted a message that read, “The Internet was a lot safer before @Twitter, @Apple, @Google and @Facebook started protecting us from it,” and wrote, “This times 1000.”
On Friday, Twitter also permanently banned two Trump loyalists – former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell – as part of a wider purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Twitter braced itself Monday for pro-Trump protesters outside San Francisco headquarters, pictured, after the president banned access to 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 touch with representatives from Twitter. We will have sufficient resources to respond to demonstrations and to help the entire city.
The San Francisco Police Department is committed to facilitating the public’s right to expressions of freedom of expression through the First Amendment. We ask that everyone who exercises their First Amendment rights be considerate, respectful and mindful of the safety of others. ‘
John Dennis, Chairman of the Republican Party of San Francisco, said, “If the company doesn’t apply its terms of service right away, you’ll get a response.
‘It is going to happen. So I don’t know the details of this protest, but I suspect you will see many. ‘
Twitter saw shares fall 10 percent during early trading on Monday
Twitter said in a statement, “ While we respect people’s right to express their views, last week we were transparent about the factors that led to our decision.
“We have nothing to add, but we wanted to confirm that we will continue to have mandatory home work support for Twitter employees.”
Facebook on Thursday suspended Trump’s account until Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, and possibly indefinitely.
Fueling frustrations Right-wing social media site Parler also disappeared from the internet, disappearing from Apple and Google app stores Monday after tech giants cut ties with the platform.
Parler went offline shortly after 3 a.m. EST after Amazon launched its web hosting service platform, effectively shutting it down until it could find a new hosting partner.
Hailed by Trump supporters as a conservative-friendly 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 inciting violence after Wednesday’s riot.
Parler, who had been used by some of the rioters to help plan the uprising, was the most downloaded app on the Apple Store Friday before both Apple and Google stopped accessing their app stores.
CEO John Matze warned in his last post before the 3am deadline that “we’re likely to be down longer than expected” as tech companies are moving away from the “free speech” site.
On Friday, Twitter also permanently banned two Trump loyalists – former national security adviser Michael Flynn and attorney Sidney Powell – as part of a wider purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory. Twitter said it will take action against behavior that could lead to offline damage
Tucked away in the White House, Trump became increasingly isolated after a mob revolted in the Capitol in support of his false claims about electoral fraud.
Pro-Trump protesters entered the Capitol building on Wednesday
Republican Congressman Devin Nunes, who had an account on Parler, raged over what he said was “political censorship” after Apple and Google removed the app.
“Spread the word so your fellow Americans are aware of this,” he urged his three million followers on the site.
Right-wing expert Ben Shapiro warned on Twitter that “the tech brothers are making a horrible and dangerous moment significantly more gruesome and dangerous.”
‘No consistent standards are applied. There is a reactionary deplatforming on behalf of one side, ‘he claimed.
“Everyone on the right is rightly concerned that the same companies are five minutes away from simply removing conservatives’ ability to host content everywhere.”
The crackdown on social media has revived the discussion about whether tech giants should be treated as ‘publishers’ with the same accountability as news providers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted an image of an analytic tool showing the main elected Democrats getting tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, while major Republicans lost them at the same rate.
“That’s how you create an echo chamber …” Pompeo wrote.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday that the House is pushing ahead with legislation to impeach Trump, while pushing the vice president and cabinet to appeal to constitutional authority to force him out.
Hailed by Donald Trump supporters as a conservative-friendly 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 inciting violence after Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol.
Shortly after 3 hours EST, Parler disappeared from the internet with an error ‘we can’t connect to the server’ after Amazon pulled the plug
In his last post before the 3am deadline, Matze said that ‘most people with enough servers to host us have closed their doors to us’
Tucked away in the White House, Trump became increasingly isolated after a mob revolted in the Capitol in support of his false claims about electoral fraud.
After his personal account was banned on Friday, Trump took to the @POTUS account and came up with the idea that he could build his own ‘platform’.
A crowd of Trump supporters overpowered police, broke through security lines and windows, and swept through the Capitol on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to disperse as they finalized Biden’s victory over Trump at the Electoral College.
Twitter said in a statement: “ In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of Twitter’s rules could potentially result in this course of action.
Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear directly from elected officials and world leaders. It is based on the principle that people have the right to be accountable in public.
“However, we made it clear years ago that these accounts are not completely above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.”