Twitter Won't Allow You To Tweet Saying You Hope The President Dies

Donald Trump's Positive COVID-19 Test has been basically the only thing anyone on Twitter could talk about over the past few days, and while there's been plenty of schadenfreude going, with many mocking the President's for previously downplaying the coronavirus pandemic, Twitter has stepped in to say you can't post tweets wishing for his untimely demise.

Shortly after Trump made his earth-shattering diagnosis on the platform, Twitter clarified that "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."

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

The timing of Twitter's statement clarifying their rules seemed disingenuous to myriad black people and women who have been dealing with death threats on Twitter for years. Politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib tweeted exasperatedly about Twitter choosing now to clarify their statements considering the death threats they regularly receive.

So… you mean to tell us you could‘ve done this the whole time? https://t.co/7OmgEYjWnI

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 3, 2020

Seriously though, this is messed up. The death threats towards us should have been taking more seriously by @TwitterComms https://t.co/IOS7s2n1wx

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) October 3, 2020

Malorie Blackman and director Ava Duvernay expressed exasperation about the policy considering the death threats they've received during their time on Twitter.

Does this also go for Black and Brown women who have long been and continue to be harassed and threatened with assault and death on this platform or nah? I think no. Because I see those same accounts still up. Still causing harm. Your anyone is disingenuous. https://t.co/NTFzc93ASs

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) October 3, 2020

Weeks of death threats and serious threats against my family when I was Children's Laureate resulted in Twitter doing bugger all about it. side-eyes in Black woman https://t.co/pKsvH1OVNu

— Aunty Malorie Blackman (@malorieblackman) October 3, 2020

Twitter's apparently sudden enforcement of their anti-death threat rule has also had a Streisand Effect on the platform, as there's been an uptick in people creatively finding ways to put their hope for the President's untimely end in tweets.

terrible pic.twitter.com/hM2Ij1vm4U

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) October 4, 2020

KEEP GOING YOU ARE SO CLOSE! pic.twitter.com/kW6SSpd6Gb

— Zack Bornstein (@ZackBornstein) October 5, 2020

Personally, I think the best person that the President and First Lady could be taking close, physically proximate counsel with right now is Dr. Henry Kissinger. A wise and accomplished man, with nearly a century of wisdom and physiological precarity to draw upon.

— 'no cops, no capital, no malarkey' zachary 🤠📉 (@TomKhruisehchev) October 2, 2020

if you want to say the thing you’re no longer allowed to say on here, just tweet “Big Money, No Whammies"

— COVID Goth Li'l 🌳 listen to onbeliefpod (karengeier) October 2, 2020

At the time of writing, President Trump is still in Walter Reed Hospital and has said he will be discharged at 6:30 P.M. today.