Donald Trump's Twitter account has been permanently suspended “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”, the social media firm said.
In a statement last night the social media giant said it was concerned about the risk of further violence after the "horrific" scenes in the US Capitol on Wednesday, as pro-Trump supporters stormed the building in a bid to overturn the presidential election result.
Twitter said two of the outgoing President Trump 's tweets posted on Friday had violated its glorification of violence policy.
The move is significant as Trump built his run to the presidency on the back of his online popularity, which led to him finishing his time on Twitter with almost 89 million followers.
Twitter's statement said it had "made it clear" previously that the President's personal account was "not above our rules", and said it took action "in the context of horrific events" earlier this week.
The statement read: "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.
"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.
"However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.
"We will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement."
The decision comes after supporters of Mr Trump stormed the US Capitol building on Wednesday in protest at his election loss to Joe Biden, leading to violent clashes and the deaths of five people.
Mr Trump was accused of inciting his supporters into violence with a speech at a rally in Washington DC earlier in the day.
The president was subsequently locked out of his social media accounts temporarily, although Facebook has since extended the ban until the end of his presidency on January 20.
