The media’s reliance on president Trump’s tweets ultimately highlights a key aspect that governs today’s hybrid media system. Trump in response tweeted a video in which he called the agitators ‘very special’ and said he loved them. The US Capitol building in Washington was stormed by thousands of pro-Trump rioters on Wednesday. And indeed, news coverage of the president often relied heavily on this. Trump’s administration of “alternative facts” has continuously stonewalled a number of enquiries - going as far as refusing to testify before Congress on certain matters.įrom this frame of view, Trump’s Twitter feed was arguably one of few places where his claims and decisions could really be scrutinised. It’s a way to hold him accountable for what he has said and done.Īnd this will soon be on display as the US Democratic Party looks to impeach him for the second time for “inciting insurrection”. Twitter diplomacy: how Trump is using social media to spur a crisis with Mexicoįor all the reasons listed above, the value of Trump’s Twitter record extends beyond historical research. They were also used to endorse allies and attack rivals. For example, they influenced foreign relations between the US and Mexico, North Korea, China and Iran. His tweets set the agenda for US politics during his presidency. He bypassed traditional media channels, instead tweeting for political and diplomatic purposes - including to make important policy announcements.
Trump’s approach to using Twitter was unprecedented. Trump’s 88 million followers (as of when his account was suspended) generated endless streams of user engagement for the social media giant. Twitter also benefited from this relationship. In 2017, Trump told Fox News he believed he may have never been elected without Twitter - and that he viewed it as an effective means for pushing his message. The Trump Twitter Archive, started in 2016, is currently one of few extensive online databases providing access to the president’s past tweets.
#Trump twitter search archive#
But even if he does, grassroots initiatives have already archived all of his tweets.įor example, the Trump Twitter Archive is a free, public resource that lets users search and filter through more than 56,000 tweets by Trump since 2009, including deleted tweets since 2016. We don’t know whether Trump will invoke restrictions. Still, the president reserves the right to invoke as many as six specific restrictions to public access for up to 12 years. The Trump administration will have to turn over the digital records for both accounts on January 20, which will eventually be made available to the public on a Trump Library website. Today, it remains a way to force governments to be transparent with the public.Īnd although Trump tweeted extensively from his personal Twitter account created in 2009, it has undoubtedly been used for official purposes.įrom banning transgender military service to threatening the use of nuclear weapons against North Korea, his tweets on this account constitute an important part of the presidential record.Īs such, the US National Archives says it will preserve all of them, including deleted posts - as well as all posts from the official presidential account. It was passed in 1978, out of concern that former president Richard Nixon would destroy the tapes which ultimately led to his resignation. The act defines presidential records as any materials created or received by the president (or immediate staff or advisors) in the course of conducting his official duties. Under the Presidential Records Act, all of Trump’s social media communications are considered public property, including non-public messages sent via direct chat features. The account was wiped and renamed in 2019 once her role ended.ĭespite being permanently suspended, Trump’s prolific Twitter record is not lost. Under the US government’s ethics regulations, US officials are prevented from benefiting personally from their public office, and this applies to social media accounts.įormer US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, also used her personal and political Twitter accounts to conduct official business as ambassador. Quote tweets have been replaced with the message: “This Tweet is unavailable” and replies can’t be viewed in one place anymore.īut even if Trump’s account had not been suspended, he would have had to part with it at the end of his presidency anyway, since he used it extensively for presidential purposes. Embedded tweets are still visible as simple text, but can no longer be traced to their source.Īdding to this, retweets of the president’s messages no longer appear on the forwarding user’s feed. The loss of public access to Trump’s original Twitter posts means every online hyperlink to a tweet is now defunct.
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