Twitter loses $5 billion in market value after banning President Trump

In the wake of the Capitol riots last Wednesday, Twitter and other Big Tech giants took cancel culture to new heights, permanently banning President Trump from their platforms.

Twitter was the first to permanently suspend Trump’s account. 

“After close review of recent Tweets from @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said. 

At the time of the ban, Trump had more than 88 million followers, making him among the top six most followed users on the platform. 

Twitter’s ban followed shortly after Facebook suspended the president for at least the rest of his presidency. CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the decision in a Facebook post on Thursday, arguing that “[Trump’s] decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world.” 

As a result of the ban, Twitter stock fell 12 percent on Monday, and the share-price decline wiped $5 billion from the company’s $41 billion market capitalization. 

According to Business Insider, the stock likely fell because investors are worried that the ban will diminish interest in the platform and lead to boycotts among those who see the decisions as politically motivated and a way to silence conservative voices. 

Facebook and Alphabet were also lower after Trump’s accounts were removed from their platforms, Fox Business reports. 

President Trump isn’t the only one facing censorship by Big Tech. Several key conservative figures reported facing a mass purge of followers on Twitter since last Wednesday, and many of them are encouraging their follower base to switch over to Parler, a conservative forum. 

However, Parler was removed from Apple and Google stores over the weekend, creating a new set of challenges for conservatives.