Twitter is delivering a stern warning to those who tweet ill wishes and death hopes about Donald Trump on their platform. While many people posted well wishes to the president following his diagnosis and move to Walter Reed Medical Center, many did not extend an olive branch.
Critics of Trump decided to celebrate his diagnosis and even hope it meant the end of his presidency, and his life. Some described it as “purge night” in reference to the movie, The Purge. Except instead of murder, it is posts on Twitter involving jokes and wisecracks wishing Trump ill.
Videos by PopCulture.com
tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension. https://t.co/lQ8wWGL2y0 https://t.co/P2vGfUeUQf
โ Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) October 2, 2020
Many deleted their posts by the morning, but many continued and prompted Twitter to release a statement that included a threat inside according to The Verge. “[Tweets] that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension,” Twitter’s post on the situation said. The platform also added that not every account will be targeted, meaning some could slip through the cracks while major offenders will be targeted.
“We’re prioritizing the removal of content when it has a clear call to action that could potentially cause real-world harm,” Twitter told The Verge. The outlet did add that posts that may fit the criteria won’t be automatically flagged or lead to a suspension.
Not everybody on Twitter was happy with the decision, while others were quick to point out the hypocrisy over the announcement. Scroll down to see some of the outraged messages people started to send to Twitter.
โ
I hope you make โthe sacrificeโ too; like other people have.
โ One Voice (@OneVoic09474519) October 2, 2020
โ
Is anyone else uh pic.twitter.com/Q0Dpd8jwLK
โ the lusty argonian maid (@C0INCELPR0) October 3, 2020
the right have been posting about how Kyle Rittenhouse did nothing wrong for the last month but sure https://t.co/y8rPcKvurg
โ Rob (@robrousseau) October 2, 2020
โ
https://t.co/e4HWL7RoNt pic.twitter.com/S0Yl1PfrWv
โ Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 3, 2020
.@IlhanMN gets *actual death threats* on this platform all the time and Twitter doesnโt do shit https://t.co/tFeyDq9UXC
โ Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) October 2, 2020
โ
So apparently twitter is suspending accounts who openly hope for trump’s death but somehow they were silent when obama was getting death threats for 8 years
โ Imani Gandy โ๏ธ๐๐ฅ (@AngryBlackLady) October 2, 2020
funny how that works
So Trump can tweet out hate and misinformation, but if you wish death upon him twitter will suspend you.
โ Josh Fox BlackLivesMatter (@joshfoxfilm) October 3, 2020
Seems a bit unbalanced to me.
Trump wished the death penalty on the innocent Central Park five.
We remember all those he wished death upon. All those he silenced. https://t.co/oUu57eAEzB
โ
Someone was banned from twitter for saying they hope Trump dies?
โ Dave “Alive” Anthony (@daveanthony) October 2, 2020
There’s some pretty blatant sexism in twitter threatening to suspend accounts ‘wishing’ COVID does its thing to Donald Trump given the death wishes Clinton got when she collapsed.
โ grimm (@mugrimm) October 2, 2020
โ
Itโs wrong to publicly wish harm on anyone pic.twitter.com/kajwZcOGF1
โ Giulia Rozzi (@GiuliaRozzi) October 2, 2020