Twitter’s decision to permanently disable the account of President Donald Trump interferes with the fundamental right to freedom of expression, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said, describing the move as “problematic”. 

Merkel: Freedom of expression is a fundamental right

Speaking on Monday in Berlin, the spokesperson for Angela Merkel’s office was critical of the suspension of US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account. “The fundamental right to freedom of expression is a fundamental right of elementary importance,” said Steffan Seibert. 

“This fundamental right can be interfered with, but within the framework of the law and within the framework defined by the legislature - not according to the decision of the corporate management of social media platforms... From this point of view, the chancellor sees it as problematic that the US President’s accounts have been permanently blocked, Seibert said. 

Seibert also emphasised that the operators of social networks have a very great responsibility to ensure that political communication is “not poisoned” by hatred, lies or incitement to violence. It is therefore not right to stand idly by when such content is posted, but rather to intervene by tagging false claims, as Twitter has done in the past weeks and months. 

Twitter dumps Trump

Twitter announced on Friday evening that it had permanently blocked the account of the outgoing US President Donald Trump because of “the risk of further incitement to violence”, after Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC last week. As of the weekend, Tweets on the @realDonaldTrump account were no longer visible. 

With Trump’s more than 88 million followers, Twitter was for years an important mouthpiece for the president. Other platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Google, YouTube, Pinterest, Twitch and Snapchat have also blocked Trump’s accounts. On Friday the president accused Twitter of plotting with the Democrats to silence him and his supporters.