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Photo: Alex Castro // The Verge
After years of political commentators, pundits, & everyday users calling upon Twitter to permanently ban the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, from their platform, Twitter has actually done the previously unthinkable.
Photo: MarketWatch // Getty Images
The @realDonaldTrump account, which previously had over 88 million followers, was banned as a result of the following tweets made this past Friday, which were said to violate Twitter's "glorification of violence" policy as well as using their platform to incite further unrest after this past Wednesday's events:
“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
The price implications of this were immediately felt this morning at the opening bell, as nearly $5 billion of Twitter's market value was shaved off as a result of their first suspension of a head of state, to-date. Investors now have cause for concern around user growth and engagement at Twitter as many of the President's supporters have made the decision to move to other right-wing social media sites such as Parler (which is currently engaged in a fight to stay alive) or exit the platform entirely. Moving forward, there are two things investors will have to consider as a result of this: one, increased costs of their content moderation & two, potential bipartisan regulatory efforts as Democrats seek to crack down on Twitter's role in the Capitol riots and Republicans combating the sizable role that 'Big Tech' now plays with regards to free speech and making unilateral decisions regarding their platforms.
As of the closing bell, Twitter's price settled at $48.15, down from last Monday's high of $54.50.
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