Twitter urged to remove Trump as he posts first tweets since deadly riots

(AFP via Getty Images)

Politicians and members of the public are asking Twitter to remove Donald Trump as he posts his first tweets since deadly riots in Washington, DC.

Mr Trump posted his first text tweet since he was suspended from the site on Wednesday morning, seemingly giving his backing to his aggrieved supporters.

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future," he wrote. "They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

Earlier, Mr Trump had posted a video, without text, in which he had appeared more reserved and seemed to indicate that he would aim for a peaceful transition.

The fact that Mr Trump is still able to post – despite being banned on other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitch – led to pleas with Twitter and its chief executive Jack Dorsey to remove or suspend his account.

Democrat Senator Joe Manchin was one of a number of politicians to call for Twitter to take Mr Trump’s account down for fear that it could be used to incite more violence.

“The next 12 days are critical for the preservation of our democracy,” he wrote, after the first video post but before Mr Trump’s second, more inflammatory post. "@jack, once again I urge you to suspend the @realDonaldTrump @twitter account in the interest of our national security and public safety."

!AJ Delgado, a lawyer who previously worked for the Trump campaign, tweeted disapprovingly about Mr Trump’s return.

“Oh look -- the insurrectionist is back on,” she said, quoting Mr Trump’s tweet. “Thanks, @Jack.”

“I'm sorry, how is this person still allowed to post on this website?” asked journalist Lydia DePilis.

“Fresh from a 12-hour Twitter ban, Trump is again downplaying and encouraging his violent, white nationalist supporters,” wrote pressure group Muslim Advocates. "Facebook, Twitter & YouTube must terminate his accounts!"

Twitter has already indicated that another infringement of its rules – including those that ban voting misinformation and threats of violence – would lead to Mr Trump being suspended from the site. It is not clear that either of the two new posts would breach those rules.

In the wake of the violence in Washington, Twitter required that Mr Trump remove three posts from his page, and put the account into a 12-hour suspension for breaking its rules. As well as saying that any future violations would leave to a ban, it said in a tweet that it would “continue to evaluate the situation in real time, including examining activity on the ground and statements made off Twitter”, and that further escalation could follow.

Facebook and Instagram have already gone much further than Twitter and banned Mr Trump from posting “indefinitely” and for at least two weeks.

The change was made because Facebook decided “the risk of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great”, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri confirmed that it would stop Mr Trump from posting, too.

"Given the exceptional circumstances, and the fact that the President has decided to condone rather than condemn yesterday’s violence at the Capital, we are extending the block we have placed on his accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks," he wrote.