Staff Reports
According to a report from Fox News, former First Lady Michelle Obama demanded that Twitter remove President Donald Trump from its platform and he was banned the next day.
The fourth batch of Twitter documents, which included internal communications, was released by CEO Elon Musk on Saturday. These documents show that the company's executives discussed the situation in Washington DC following the riot at the Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
In one of the files, Shellenberger noted that various external and internal pressures led to the company calling for Trump's removal from Twitter.
In a statement posted on Twitter, Obama called on tech companies to stop enabling the "monstrous behavior" of the president and called for them to implement policies that prevent their platforms from being used by the government to "fuel insurrection."
Several prominent organizations and individuals, including the Anti-Defamation League, also called for Trump's removal from Twitter.
In response, Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, sent an email to employees on January 7. He told them to follow the company's policies and continue to be consistent with them. At that time Trump was just suspended from Twitter.
According to the documents, Twitter maintained a policy that allowed elected officials to remain on the platform even if they violated other policies. This policy, known as the Public-interest exceptions, was designed to allow the public to see what officials were saying.
During his vacation in French Polynesia from January 4 to 8, 2021, Dorsey was away from the company. He delegated some of the responsibility to several senior executives, such as Yoel Roth and Vijaya Gadde.
Shellenberger noted that in 2020, almost all of Twitter's political donations went to the Democrats. In 2022, almost all of the company's political donations went to the Democrats.
Despite knowing the difference between Twitter's Terms of Service and its political content, the company's employees still carry out complex interpretations of the content to determine which posts are prohibited.
After Dorsey's email, Trump was removed from Twitter for violating the company's rules. This was because his posts were being interpreted and received poorly.
After Elon Musk took over as the company's CEO, Trump's access to Twitter was restored. However, he has not yet resumed control of his account. He reaffirmed his intention to remain on Twitter and continue to use its platform, known as Truth Social.
