Since United States President Donald Trump announced that he and his wife had been infected with the coronavirus, Twitter erupted with all sorts of wild stuff from users in the last 24 hours, including death wishes - a major taboo on the platforms' policies.
As Trump boarded a helicopter to be taken to the Walter Reed hospital for treatment on Friday, many Twitter users, including his rival Joe Biden, wished him a fast recovery. Former U.S. President Barack Obama also wished Trump and the first lady a speedy recovery after hearing the news.
However, some people wished – some delicately and others more bluntly – that Trump would suffer and then die from the virus.
Twitter disclosed that tweets "wishing or hoping for death, serious bodily harm, or fatal disease" against other people will be deleted from the social media service.
tweets that wish or hope for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against *anyone* are not allowed and will need to be removed. this does not automatically mean suspension. https://t.co/lQ8wWGL2y0 https://t.co/P2vGfUeUQf — Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) October 2, 2020
Such vulgar and offensive behavior can lead to an account being suspended, though not automatically, Twitter said on Friday.
A Twitter spokesperson said its Abusive Behavior Policy has been enforced since April this year and applies to all users of the platform, not just the U.S. president.
According to the spokesman, the company is prioritizing the abolition of content "when it has a clear call to action that could potentially cause real-world harm," The Guardian quoted him as saying.
But, many Twitter users say the company's rules are hypocritical, especially when a lot of people regularly receive threats and death wishes with little response from the platform.
UCLA professor Sarah Roberts, an expert on online content moderation, explained that offensive behavior should be policed on social media platforms, but added the platforms have been somewhat negligent when it comes to regulating posts from ordinary people.
Other social media giants pitched their own rules regarding death wishes and other abusive comments. A Facebook spokesman disclosed that posts wishing Trump's demise – including comments on his pages, as well as posts that tag him – will be removed from the platform.
A TikTok spokesperson said that wishing Trump to die is against the short-video app's community regulations, pointing out that such derogatory content violates its "community guidelines and removed if we find that," NPR reported.
