Twitter will ban Donald Trump if he breaks hate speech rules

In mere weeks Donald Trump will take up position at the White House as the president of the United States. He will claim a stake as the most powerful man on the planet, but even this title won't mean he can't be banned from Twitter.

The social media platform for which Trump has been so vocal on during his election campaign has said that it will not hesitate booting The Donald from Twitter if he breaks its hate speech guidelines.

It's a bizarre thought to think the president of the United States could be banned from Twitter but his job title won't hold much sway with the company who revealed in an article from Slate that no one is exempt from its rules.

"The Twitter Rules prohibit violent threats, harassment, hateful conduct, and multiple account abuse, and we will take action on accounts violating those policies," a spokesperson wrote. When asked whether this could apply to someone like Donald Trump, who has had a history of flirting with the rules, the spokesperson said: "The Twitter Rule applies to all accounts, including verified accounts." While Trump's name was not directly outed, the intimation is clear.

Included in Twitter's rules is 'hateful conduct' where it says users cannot threaten other people "on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease".

It also highlights 'harassment' which says "You may not incite or engage in the targeted abuse or harassment of others". Donald Trump's tweets, while on occasion have been close-to-the-bone, haven't breached Twitter's rules. His most recent tweet to stir outrage sees Trump claim a Somali refugee who allegedly carried out a stabbing "should not have been in our country". According to Mic.com the individual "was a legal permanent resident of the United States with no history of violence or allegiance to terrorist organisations."

Twitter has been putting its foot down in recent weeks to stamp out a number of alt-right accounts in order to curb abuse and hate speech on the network. A high profile banning earlier this year was that of Milo Yiannopoulous, the tech editor of news website Breitbart, who was accused of inciting hateful tirades of tweets towards Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones.