Donald Trump‘s recent COVID-19 diagnosis has further inflamed the bitter partisan divide in US politics, and now Twitter has spoken up, announcing that it will suspend users who breach its policies around abusive behaviour by wishing harm upon him.
COVID-19 has killed more than 200,000 US citizens and infected millions more. When the President tested positive, many took to Twitter to blast him for his poor handling of the pandemic, and some openly wished for him to succumb to his illness.
In a statement to Motherboard, the social media platform said that it will suspend accounts who are seen to be doing this, saying: “Content that wishes, hopes or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against an individual is against our rules.”
The policy in question claims to encourage “open dialogue” on the platform, while prohibiting “behavior that harasses or intimidates, or is otherwise intended to shame or degrade others”. The relevant section concerning banned behaviours reads:
Wishing or hoping serious harm on a person or group of people
We do not tolerate content that wishes, hopes or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against an individual or group of people. This includes, but is not limited to:
Hoping that someone dies as a result of a serious disease e.g., “I hope you get cancer and die.”
Wishing for someone to fall victim to a serious accident e.g., “I wish that you would get run over by a car next time you run your mouth.”
Saying that a group of individuals deserves serious physical injury e.g., “If this group of protesters don’t shut up, they deserve to be shot.”
Twitter has said that it won’t take action on every tweet, but will prioritise the removal of content that has “a clear call to action that could potentially cause real-world harm.”
It’s unclear what exactly that could mean in this context, but there will surely be a great deal more commentary on the president’s condition in the days to come.
