Following President Trump's ban from Twitter Friday, he said he was "negotiating with various other sites" while he looks "at the possibilities of building out our own platform."
Trump's announcement also came as Parler, the social media platform popular with conservatives, was banned from the Google Play Store. Apple had also reportedly warned Parler about possible removal from the the App Store.
Trump initially made the announcement via a series of tweets from the @POTUS account, but they were removed within minutes. The White House subsequently released the statement.
"As I have been saying for a long time," Trump said, "Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me. Twitter may be a private company, but without the government's gift of Section 230 they would not exist for long."
He added, "I predicted this would happen. We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future. We will not be SILENCED!"
Earlier in the evening, Twitter said it had permanently suspended Trump’s @RealDonaldTrump account following Wednesday’s riots at the Capitol building.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a press release Friday evening.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” the company added. “Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.”
The move came after approximately 350 Twitter employees reportedly called on the company to permanently suspend the president's account, saying his ability to use Twitter “helped fuel the deadly events of January 6th.”
“Despite our efforts to serve the public conversation, as Trump’s megaphone, we helped fuel the deadly events of January 6th,” the employees wrote. “We must learn from our mistakes in order to avoid causing future harm.”
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