Two days after supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in a deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021, Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the platform “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
In early May 2021, someone created and started posting from a Twitter account with the handle @DJTDesk began posting messages, claiming to do so on behalf of Trump, which Twitter quickly suspended. Whoever ran the account, titled “The Desk of Donald J. Trump,” claimed to not be Trump.
The BBC located other accounts doing the same. It’s unknown whether Trump or anyone associated with him was behind any of these accounts.
Trump’s blog, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump, contains brief messages that have links that allow his supporters to share those messages on the social media platforms that he’s banned from. Here’s an example, in which Trump praises U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri. Hawley has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s false election-fraud claims that sparked the Capitol attack:
A Twitter spokesperson told us by email that the accounts violated the platform’s policy on skirting bans: “As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account.”
Trump was locked out of his Twitter and Facebook accounts on Jan. 6 after his supporters attacked the Capitol, acting on Trump’s disinformation campaign that falsely claimed the November 2020 election was stolen from him due to widespread election fraud. Insurgents tried to block legislators from certifying U.S. President Joe Biden’s win. Four people were killed that day while about 140 police officers were injured.
Two days later, on Jan. 8, Twitter permanently suspended Trump, citing his continued posting of incendiary tweets about the election and Biden inauguration.
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