Communications Major

Democrats are breathing easier. Republicans are crying censorship. For all of the country’s news consumers, a strange quiet has descended after a four-year bombardment of presidential verbiage.

Twitter and Facebook on Wednesday locked the accounts of President Trump, which prevents him from posting messages to his more than 88 million followers on Twitter and 35 million followers on Facebook, after he published a string of inaccurate and inflammatory messages on a day of violence in the nation’s capital.

The moves were an unprecedented rebuke of Mr. Trump by the social media companies, which have long been megaphones for the president.

Nearly three out of four social media users think President Donald Trump should face a permanent ban or temporary suspension on social media if he spreads misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak, according to a new poll from Morning Consult.

The poll of 2,044 social media users found a near even split on whether Trump should face a ban or suspension — 37 percent believe he should get a permanent ban, 36 percent think Trump should be temporarily suspended. Politicians and journalists were among the most common professions that people believed should face repercussions over false or misleading information related to Covid-19.

The transition of official White House social media handles is more complicated now than four years ago.