in the event of defeat, could Donald Trump be banned from...

Donald Trump enjoys special treatment on Twitter because of his status as President of the United States. He should continue to profit if he loses the election, but Twitter could decide to be tougher.

Donald Trump receives special treatment from Twitter. His tweets, even contrary to the regulations, remain on the platform. The social network considers that it is “in the public interest” to keep them online, searchable by all. However, they are accompanied by an alert message for users.

Since Tuesday evening, most of the tweets published by the current President of the United States have been masked by Twitter because they echoed false information, in particular on the system of counting votes for the election. They are still online, but a message warns that “some or all of the content shared in this tweet is disputed.”

“Public interest” according to Twitter

The social network applies a different policy depending on the status of the author, namely if he is considered a personality, or if it is a “lambda” person. If Donald Trump lost the presidential election, would Twitter end his privileges? It’s unlikely. Because the notion of public interest is not necessarily linked to a mandate.

Accounts benefiting from this treatment meet several criteria, defined by Twitter. Namely, “to be or represent an official or an elected official of a government, to be a candidate for a public office”, or “to have more than 100,000 subscribers and to have a certified account”.

Stricter penalties?

These criteria are therefore very broad and Donald Trump, with his 88.4 million subscribers and his possible status as former President of the United States, would continue to fulfill them. Twitter could, on the other hand, consider applying more severe penalties. Posting several messages against the rules in a short period of time, as Donald Trump is currently doing, could lead to a temporary suspension of his account.

A few weeks ago, the former Malaysian prime minister estimated on Twitter that Muslims had “the right” to kill millions of French people. His tweet, which violates the platform’s rules on hate speech, was initially moderated for public interest, before being ultimately deleted.

However, the account was not banned from the platform, probably due to his status as a former Malaysian leader. So Donald Trump could be housed under the same banner, but see some of his tweets disappear, should he lose the presidential election.