SAN FRANCISCO — For more than a year, Twitter has faced censure for allowing President Trump to use its service to say whatever he wants. And for more than a year, the company has not addressed the criticism definitively.
On Friday, the company tackled the matter head on. Without ever mentioning Mr. Trump by name, Twitter said in a statement that he would remain on the social media service.
“Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society,” Twitter said in the statement, which was posted to its site. “Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate.”
Twitter made the statement after a swell of outrage over Mr. Trump’s tweets this week, in which he boasted that he had a “nuclear button” that was “much bigger” and “more powerful” than North Korea’s, denounced his former strategist Stephen K. Bannon and derided the mainstream media.
Many critics said they believed Mr. Trump’s recent posts violated Twitter’s terms of service, which prohibit messages that threaten violence, death or physical harm. The indignation over the president’s latest tweets was so deep that some protesters projected signs onto Twitter’s headquarters building in San Francisco this week calling the service “Trump’s dog whistle.”
