Twitter’s stock price fell as much as 12% on Monday following last week’s turbulent end for the social media giant following its decision to ban President Donald Trump’s personal account.
The company regained some of its losses by Monday afternoon, rallying from what was roughly a $5 billion loss at its lowest evaluation. Trump’s personal account had about 88 million followers.
Twitter banned the president Thursday of last week following a Wednesday riot where pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol building to disrupt the counting of electors and the certification of the 2020 presidential election for President-elect Joe Biden. Twitter justified its decision asserting that Trump’s personal account risked “further incitement of violence.”
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a statement. “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. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.”
The decision was heavily criticized by Republicans in the U.S., as well as other world leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of the latest to slam Twitter’s action. On Monday, she released a statement through her spokesman calling the ban “problematic.” As The Daily Wire reported:
Merkel’s spokesman said that social media companies “bear great responsibility for political communication not being poisoned by hatred, by lies and by incitement to violence” and that such companies should take steps to against such communication, such as flagging messages, according to The Associated Press. He added, however, that the right to freedom of opinion is of “elementary significance.”
“This fundamental right can be intervened in, but according to the law and within the framework defined by legislators — not according to a decision by the management of social media platforms,” Seibert said. “Seen from this angle, the chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the U.S. president have now been permanently blocked.”
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also slammed the decision last week saying on Thursday, “I don’t like anybody being censored or taking away from the right to post a message on Twitter or Face(book). I don’t agree with that, I don’t accept that,”
“How can you censor someone: ‘Let’s see, I, as the judge of the Holy Inquisition, will punish you because I think what you’re saying is harmful,’” he added. “Where is the law, where is the regulation, what are the norms? This is an issue of government, this is not an issue for private companies.”