Germany’s Merkel Considers Twitter Ban of Trump ‘Problematic’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech at the parliament Bundestag in Berlin, on Sept. 30, 2020. Markus Schreiber/AP Photo

German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that banning President Donald Trump from Twitter is “problematic,” her spokesman said on Jan. 11.

Twitter permanently removed Trump’s account last week, saying that his recent posts were “in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy.” Trump has since been removed from several other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, Stripe, and Shopify.

Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that freedom of opinion is an essential right 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.”

In reference to the permanent ban of the president from the platform, Twitter said in a statement: “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.”

President Donald Trump speaking on video posted on his Twitter released on Jan. 7, 2020. Screenshot/@realDonaldTrump

Two posts cited to justify the ban on the president were removed.

The first post that Twitter considered to be inciting violence said: “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. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”

The other post by Trump read: “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

The complete ban came after the latter statement.

Subsequently, the president responded to the ban on the official POTUS account.

“As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me—and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” the president’s statement read before it was taken down.

“Using another account to try to evade a suspension is against our rules,” Twitter responded in a statement. “We have taken steps to enforce this with regard to recent Tweets from the @POTUS account.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on the ban with his personal account, condemning the act and comparing it to something the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would do. The CCP exercises ironclad control over internet content and has a strong firewall that blocks people in mainland China from accessing the web freely.

“Silencing speech is dangerous. It’s un-American. Sadly, this isn’t a new tactic of the Left. They’ve worked to silence opposing voices for years,” Pompeo wrote. “We cannot let them silence 75M Americans. This isn’t the CCP.”

Pompeo posted another statement with a picture that apparently shows a massive unfollowing of Republicans on Twitter and a massive increase in followers for Democrats.

“This is how you create an echo chamber,” he said.