What happens to Trump's special Twitter privileges now?

Social media abuse from political figures isn't just a Trump problem. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [View on the web]( [Recode]( [Click to view images]( [Facebook and Twitter made special world leader rules for Trump. What happens now?]( Donald Trump's presidency ends today, and social media companies had planned to stop giving his accounts the so-called world leader exception. This was special treatment afforded to Trump because of his job — a policy that Facebook and Twitter created for the purpose of dealing with Trump's often abusive behavior online, but that now applies to other world leaders. Trump was supposed to lose this privilege today, but as we all know, his abusive behavior got so bad that Facebook and Twitter had to ban him a couple of weeks ago, after he goaded his followers into storming the US Capitol. This all raises an interesting question: What do social media companies do now? Did the world leader exception work and provide value to the American electorate by letting them know what their president was angry about during his early morning tweet storms? Or did the policy actually enable the man, inviting him to launch a misinformation campaign that claimed the election was rigged and urge his supporters to take up arms? The election wasn't rigged and his supporters did turn violent, so there's reason to believe this special policy wasn't quite the cure-all tech companies wanted it to be. Recode's Sara Morrison takes a look at the beginnings and future of the world leader policy at Facebook and Twitter. [Click to view images]( [Check out our short form podcast: Recode Daily]( Subscribe for free in Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app to get new episodes every weekday. [ Teddy Schleifer / [Recode Daily]( ] [Click to view images]( [An inauguration like no other]( Amid unprecedented security concerns and an ongoing pandemic, the visual landscape of Washington is different from any previous inaugural ceremony. [ Alan Taylor / [The Atlantic]( ] [Click to view images]( [Trump issued a pardon for the man at the center of an epic fight between Google and Uber]( The full pardon of Anthony Levandowski came out of nowhere. [ Teddy Schleifer / [Recode Daily]( ] [Click to view images]( [Alibaba's Jack Ma reemerges from three-month absence after clash with Beijing]( Jack Ma is back, and he has eaten a little humble pie. [ Eva Dou and Lyric Li / [Washington Post]( ] [Click to view images]( [We aren't using all of our tools to treat Covid-19]( More treatments are available for Covid-19 as hospitalizations spike, but some drugs are sitting on the shelves unused. [ Umair Irfan / [Vox]( ] [This is Cool Section Title] [The Facebook group where it's always 2009]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Facebook]( Twitter [Instagram]( [Recode by Vox]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Manage your [email preferences](, or [unsubscribe]( to stop receiving emails from Vox Media. View our [Privacy Notice]( and our [Terms of Service](. Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036. Copyright © 2020. All rights reserved.