Trump & Twitter: Separated At Last?

In the days and months preceding the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, Twitter posted increasingly sharp warning labels on many of former president Donald Trump’s tweets, culminating in ‘Official sources called this election differently.’ Then on Jan. 8, after the insurrection, both his @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS accounts were suspended, permanently. Here’s what Palo Alto High School students and staff have to say on this issue:

“I think Trump’s ban should’ve happened sooner. He violated Twitter policy. Why did Twitter allow all of Trump’s hate speech before the ban when so many other accounts were taken down for the same thing? I think it’s unfortunate that a whole riot had to happen for something to change.”

— Minnah Awadallah, sophomore

“I think the explanation that Twitter released was very reasonable. I’ve seen people claim it’s a violation of the First Amendment but it’s not, since Twitter is a private company and the First Amendment only refers to censorship by the government.”

— Gina Bae, junior

“If you use a platform to incite violence, you should be taken off that platform. Free speech, at least in the context of the First Amendment doesn’t prevent businesses from stifling your free speech. There are exceptions to the First Amendment right to free speech.”

— Daniel Nguyen, Math teacher

“After a suspension and warnings from Twitter that he may be banned permanently, should he breach platform rules again, he still tweeted messages that had suggested he was not willing to facilitate an orderly transition or that the election was not legitimate.”

— Cameron Lau, senior

“Trump definitely should have been suspended, maybe not permanently, but he broke the rules and he should have consequences for that. Trump can find other ways to reach people – he can put out official statements or just talk to the press anyway.”

— Connie Jiang, sophomore

“I think people in the public eye at his level maybe need to be held to a different standard, but as a layperson I found him extremely dangerous and it’s a pleasure not to be interrupted by that all the time in the public domain.”

— Lucy Filppu, English teacher