Twitter says it could strip President Donald Trump’s account of certain privileges when takes office on January 20.
Trump’s recent tweets alleging voter fraud in the November 3 election have been tagged by Twitter, with notices that say for example, “This claim about voter fraud is disputed.”
Ordinarily, Twitter would remove such tweets, but affords world leaders some further latitude.
“A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable,” a Twitter spokesman told the Bloomberg news agency. “With this in mind, there are certain cases where it may be in the public’s interest to have access to certain tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules.”
This policy, however, does not apparently extend to former leaders, Twitter told the Reuters news organization.
"This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions," a Twitter spokesman told Reuters in a statement.
Trump is refusing to concede the election, alleging voter fraud. He is suing various states over what he says are irregularities.
Media organizations, including VOA, have projected Biden as the winner of the election, with 279 electoral votes.