On a seemingly daily basis, a tweet from the account of Donald Trump causes international headlines.
The president-elect uses the social media platform to speak directly to the world, oftentimes giving his immediate reaction to issues, whether someone criticizes him or he is unhappy with a business or to praise a member of his team.
Trump also used Twitter to help propel himself to victory in November’s U.S. presidential election.
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Twitter employees, much like the rest of America, assumed Hillary Clinton would win, with Trump’s shocking tweets being largely dismissed.
But when Trump won, it prompted deep concerns for many at the tech company.
“Fast-forward to the day after election,” a former Twitter staffer told The Verge. “I could feel it in my timeline — there was a strong sense of ‘what have we done’ from Twitter employees.”
Some went so far as to call out their own brand.
“Twitter helped in promoting Trump. Twitter helped in spreading falsehoods and lies,” Marina Zhao, an engineer for the company tweeted in November.
Various news organizations including Salon and the Washington Post have called for Twitter to ban Trump from the site. An employee told The Verge that while there have been discussions on the subject, realistically, there is almost no chance it would happen.
“Banning is definitely a conversation that people are having, but only because we have to have the conversation,” the staffer said. “It would take something really deplorable for a ban, and I highly doubt even Trump is that stupid.”
Another former employee who is said to have been involved in discussions over Twitter’s abuse policies said there is zero chance the company would ban the next president of the United States.
“He holds the most powerful office in the world,” the former employee told the Verge. “Would you rather not know what Trump was thinking at any given point? Knowledge is usually better than lack of knowledge.”
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