Trump's defeat to Biden would cost him special treatment on Twitter

Washington, Nov 07: Twitter has confirmed that, if Trump leaves office, he will no longer receive special treatment as a "newsworthy individual".

Twitter's policy around newsworthiness protects certain people - such as elected officials with more than 250,000 followers - from having their accounts suspended or banned for rule infractions that would otherwise lead to severe penalties.

That policy is what has led to the company muting, but not removing, at least 12 tweets from the US president over the past week that cast doubt on the democratic process.
But, Twitter has confirmed, the policy does not apply to former elected officials. They have to follow the same rules as everyone else, and if a tweet breaks those rules, it gets removed.

Trump has violated the company's rules around offensive or misleading content. That exemption will end in January if he loses the presidency to Biden.

"Twitter's approach to world leaders, candidates and public officials is based on the principle that people should be able to choose to see what their leaders are saying with clear context," a spokesman told the Guardian. "This means that we may apply warnings and labels, and limit engagement to certain Tweets. This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions."

That will present Trump with a choice once he leaves office: either tone down the rhetoric or face the prospect of his hugely influential following being taken away from him.