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SAN FRANCISCO – US President Donald Trump will be bound by the same Twitter Inc rules as any other user when President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, the social media company confirmed this week.
Twitter places “public interest” notices in some tweets that violate the rules of “world leaders” who would otherwise be removed. Instead, these tweets from political candidates and elected or government officials are masked by a warning, and Twitter takes steps to restrict their reach.
But the company said this treatment does not apply to former officials.
“This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for public office, and not to private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
He has added multiple warnings and tags to the #realDonaldTrump account’s tweets, including many since Tuesday’s election that made unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud.
He first hid one of his tweets behind a “public interest” tag in May when the president violated the company’s policy against glorifying violence.
[[nid:495894]]Based on Facebook Inc’s policies, it appears that after Biden takes office in January, Trump’s posts will also not be exempt from review by Facebook’s third-party data verification partners.
Facebook’s online policy says it defines politicians, whose posts are exempt from fact checking, as candidates running for public office, current office holders, and many of those appointed by their cabinet, along with political parties and their leaders.
It says that “former candidates for public office or former officials continue to be covered by our third-party data verification program.”
Facebook did not respond to questions from Reuters about how it would treat Trump’s account.
Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania on Saturday put the Democratic presidential candidate above the 270 Electoral College vote threshold needed to win the presidency.
Republican Trump has not relented and has promised to challenge the result in court.
