The real power that any social media platform has is to influence people, and when placed in the wrong hands it can do extreme damage, as we have all witnessed. 

Social media platforms have an age limit for a reason because no child is supposed to be on the internet. 

Ironically Donald Trump acted as a child anytime he used Twitter. 

With the recent attacks of the Capitol, Twitter suspended Donald Trump’s account as they saw the attacks as being incited by Trump himself.  

After Twitter’s actions, more social media platforms followed–Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram.

This didn’t silence Trump, he can still deliver messages through his Press Secretary, all they did was tell Trump that he cannot use those platforms as a direct line. 

According to Variety, Twitter had labeled 200 of Trump’s tweets as including “disputed” or false information about the election. 

Twitter labeled 38% of Trump’s tweets as misleading information two days after Election Day.

With this in mind, many Americans began to question what would have happened if Trump had been banned around Election week?

His constant misleading information made his supporters truly believe that it was all a lie and led to the attack of the Capitol. 

Would things have gotten to the point of his supporters storming into the Capitol?

It is true that Trump can still get his messages across through TV; however the influence he had on Twitter was clear. 

Zignal Labs, and analytic firm in San Francisco, did a study that proved that Trump used Twitter and social media to mislead and trick Americans that the election was a fraud. 

In the study, they found that in the week after Twitter banned Trump, online conversations about election fraud dropped from 2.5 million mentions to 688,000 mentions. 

On the other side of the argument, there are people who see Trump’s Twitter account as a blessing in disguise. 

Free speech expert and director of ACLU speech and privacy project, Ben Wizner said, “If Trump had only communicated to the public through White House press channels that were heavily edited, redacted and managed, we would have known a lot less about who he was.” 

Wizner also concluded that Trump’s tweets were evidence of lawsuits against him. 

There are people that claim that Twitter’s ban on Trump was a violation of freedom of speech. 

People seem to have forgotten what the definition of freedom of speech is. 

Another free speech analyst and CEO of Pen American, Suzanne Nossell said, “Free speech promotes tolerance and civil engagement. 

“It is part of individual autonomy and how each of us expresses our identities. 

“It’s an underpinning for artistic achievements, for scientific progress, for economic prosperity.”

Twitter and other social media platforms suspending Trump was a means of prevention of a second attack on the Capitol. 

A Loretto sophomore said, “As the President of the United States I believe it is a very important role to have human respect and not just the voice of yourself but listen to the voice of others. 

“It is for us as a community to move forward and continue this new year with President Biden and positivity for the sake of us and our future.”

Politicians are politicians not influencers. 

Trump is a politician not an influencer, he has other outlets, that he hasn’t yet been banned from to share information 

When Trump tweeted, “Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”, he had no idea that it was his goodbye to Twitter. 

Social media platforms now more than ever need to understand the influence figures of power have and that they are the ones who deliver it .