Trump claims his social media ban is ‘catastrophic mistake’ and calls big tech ‘horrible’

‘They’re dividing and divisive and they’re showing something that I’ve been predicting for a long time,’ claims US President

Donald Trump has claimed that his social media ban is a “catastrophic mistake” and described big tech as “horrible”, following his permanent suspension from numerous Internet platforms in the wake of the Capitol riots.

On Tuesday, before he boarded a helicopter to travel from Alamo, Texas, back to the White House, President Trump spoke to reporters about his ban on several social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook.

“I think that big tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country and I believe it is going to be a catastrophic mistake for them," he said.

“They’re dividing and divisive and they’re showing something that I’ve been predicting for a long time."

He added: “I’ve been predicting it for a long time but people didn’t act on it and I think big tech has made a terrible mistake and very, very bad for our country and that’s leading others to do the same thing.

“And it causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger. Big mistake and they shouldn’t be doing it.”

President Trump was banned from several social media sites last week, after a mob of his supporters breached the US Capitol last Wednesday.

The rioters attacked the Capitol after attending a rally led by Mr Trump, who urged supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” and told them: “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”

The House was evacuated as numerous politicians and staff members were forced to barricade themselves in offices to hide from the rioters, some of whom were carrying guns and other weapons. Five people died and numerous others were injured in the riots.

Over the last few months, both Twitter and Facebook have labelled misleading posts from Mr Trump about 3 November’s presidential election. Mr Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims the election was stolen. There had been calls for platforms to ban Mr Trump to stop the spread of misinformation, while the platforms previously argued Mr Trump’s account was necessary for the public interest.

However, in the wake of the violence on Wednesday, and the president’s refusal to stop contesting the election on social media, Twitter banned Mr Trump in a move that was quickly followed by Facebook.

Twitch, Spotify, Snapchat and Shopify all did the same in the days that followed, while YouTube and TikTok announced new restrictions about posts in support of Mr Trump’s actions on their platforms. The suspensions effectively ban the current president from mainstream social media.

Announcing its suspension of President Trump on Friday, Twitter wrote: “We have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.

“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 social media platform added: “We made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.”

While speaking to reporters before boarding the helicopter on Tuesday, Mr Trump also refused to take any responsibility for the riots at the Capitol on Wednesday.

“So if you read my speech, and many people have done it, and I’ve seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television, it’s been analysed, and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” he said.

Mr Trump then claimed that the growing calls to have him removed from office before the end of his presidency on 20 January were “absolutely ridiculous” and added that the Democrats’ demands for impeachment were causing “tremendous anger”.