US

Twitter suspends several accounts sharing posts from Trump’s website

Twitter has suspended several accounts that have been set up to share posts from Donald Trump’s website.

The micro-blogging site said the accounts broke the rules by helping the former president to circumvent a ban from the social network.

Mr Trump was banned from a number of platforms after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on 6 January.

Trump's Twitter account permanently suspended
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Donald Trump’s Twitter account was suspended earlier this year

Twitter, where he had 88 million followers, has said its ban is permanent, regardless of whether or not Mr Trump runs for office in future.

Facebook upheld its own ban on Wednesday, and YouTube said it will restore the former president’s channel when the risk of violence has decreased.

But also this week, Mr Trump added a page to his personal website which he called “From The Desk Of Donald J Trump”.

The accounts suspended by Twitter included @DJTDesk, @DJTrumpDesk, @DeskofDJT and @DeskOfTrump1.

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Mr Trump’s page allows him to post messages that can be shared on social media by his followers.

From The Desk Of Donald J Trump
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From The Desk Of Donald J Trump – part of the former president’s website

The content of his posts so far will not surprise supporters or opponents – he repeats his false claims about voter fraud in the last presidential election, and his criticism of Republicans who have not supported him.

A Twitter spokesman said: “As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account.”

A Trump representative said they had nothing to do with the suspended accounts, and an adviser added that the former president wants to launch his own social media platform.