Twitter announced to Politico on Wednesday that it will not allow Trump’s tweets to be retweeted, including those that have blocked him. The decision came on the heels of news that the United States National Archives is working on an official online archive of all the messages Trump sent to the world as president via Twitter. The National Archives has been collecting personal and professional tweets from other members of the Trump administration for a long time.
Twitter’s decision is likely to add further fuel to the debate in Washington over the power of tech companies in the public debate. Republicans in particular have long complained that Silicon Valley firms are essentially silencing conservatives.
A spokesman for the National Archives said earlier that “the best way is being searched” to preserve the tweets from the realDonaldTrump account for future generations. The National Archives wants to leave to Twitter whether the messages will also be available on that social media. A Twitter spokesperson said the company is working with the National Archives to archive the tweets “as is usual in the transition to a new government.”
