Trump’s banishment from Facebook and Twitter: A timeline.
After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald J. Trump, social media sites including Twitter and Facebook were urged to limit hate speech and the glorification of violence on their platforms.
Jan. 6, 2021: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” Mr. Trump tweets, with an accompanying post to Facebook. Other posts include a video telling his supporters to “go home now,” while also offering encouragement such as “I know how you feel.” Twitter and Facebook both eventually remove some of the posts and say the president will be suspended at least until the next day.
Jan. 7, 2021: Facebook bars Mr. Trump through the end of his term, or until Jan. 20. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, says the risks of Mr. Trump using the service were too great. Mr. Trump posts a video to Twitter saying he will support a peaceful transition of power.
Jan. 8, 2021: Twitter permanently bars Mr. Trump from its service “due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” effectively cutting him off from his favorite megaphone.
Jan. 10, 2021: Stripped of a platform, Mr. Trump faces a challenge in finding a new way to command attention.
June 4, 2021: Facebook updates its stance on the suspension of Mr. Trump’s account, saying it would last at least two years. Facebook also says it will end a policy of treating posts from politicians differently from those of other users.
June 7, 2021: Times reporters analyze hundreds of online communications and posts and find that Mr. Trump’s most ardent supporters continued to spread his message after the ban — doing the work that he had been unable to do himself.
Feb. 18, 2022: Truth Social, Mr. Trump’s alternative to Twitter, has had to delay its rollout, even as the field of sites pitching themselves as freer platforms becomes more crowded.
April 27, 2022: Truth Social is inundated with phony accounts and features that don’t work, our tech reviewer writes.
May 6, 2022: A federal judge in San Francisco, saying he was not convinced that Twitter had infringed on Mr. Trump’s free speech rights, dismisses Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the company.
May 10, 2022: Elon Musk, who is in the process of buying Twitter, says that he would “reverse the permanent ban” of Mr. Trump and let him back on the social network if the deal goes through.
May 13, 2022: Elon Musk said in a tweet that his $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter was “temporarily on hold” until he could get more details to confirm that spam and fake accounts represent less than 5 percent of the social network’s total users.
Melina Delkic writes the Asia Briefing newsletter. More about Melina Delkic
Our Coverage of the Capitol Riot and its Fallout
The Events on Jan. 6
Timeline: On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump raided the U.S. Capitol. Here is a close look at how the attack unfolded.
A Day of Rage: Using thousands of videos and police radio communications, a New York Times investigation reconstructed in detail what happened — and why.
Lost Lives: A bipartisan Senate report found that at least seven people died in connection with the attack.
Jan. 6 Attendees: To many of those who attended the Trump rally but never breached the Capitol, Jan. 6 wasn’t a dark day for the nation. It was a new start.
The Federal Case Against Trump
The Indictment: Trump was indicted on Aug. 1 after a sprawling federal investigation into his attempts to cling to power after losing the 2020 election. Here is how the indictment was structured.
Trump’s Immunity Claim: The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Trump is immune from prosecution on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. The justices scheduled arguments for the week of April 22.
The Trial: In February, the federal judge in the case decided to delay the trial, which was set to start on March 4. In doing so, she acknowledged that time had run out to get the proceeding going, mostly because of the wrangling over Trump’s immunity claim.
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