Banning Trump won't make Twitter safe for democracy

opinionBrian Ott and Greg Dickinson  |  Savannah Morning NewsThis is an op-ed by Brian L. Ott, a professor and head of the Department of Communication at Missouri State University, and Greg Dickinson, a professor and dean of the Department of Communication Studies at Colorado State University.Twitter’s decision to permanently ban President Donald Trump from its platform is, on first blush, somewhat surprising. After all, for more than four years, Twitter has twisted itself into pretzels trying to justify why it was not banning him for clear violations of its policies (against hate and incitement to violence). It even invented a whole new set of rules about world leaders to justify its tortured decision not to ban Trump. So, historically, Twitter has been reluctant to hold Trump responsible for his speech, likely because he was their most notorious user. Simply put, Trump was good for business.After the violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol last Wednesday, which was clearly incited by Trump, he was no longer good for business. Under growing public pressure, Twitter, like Facebook the day before, closed Trump’s infamous account and issued this statement to justify its decision: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and…
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