Twitter Employee Wrongfully Called a Hero

If it wasn’t the Twitter employee’s last day, they certainly would have been fired for deleting President Trump’s lifeline to the public. Recently, a Twitter employee decided to take it upon his or herself to deactivate President Trump’s account. Although Trump may use his account inappropriately at times, it is not their place nor are they a hero for what they did, regardless of how the internet feels. We believe that the employee acted cowardly and although it was only for 11 minutes, what they did was wrong.

A hero is someone who acts selflessly for the greater good and it is clear that this employee deleted the account for their own entertainment. Since it was the employees last day, they should not be considered a hero. By waiting until their last day, the employee evaded any real consequences, therefore, acting cowardly. The person has also not come forward to give any indication as to why they deleted the account making their motive unclear. One can conclude they did this for their own selfish reasons, not for the greater good of the public.

To be sure, President Trump does use his account inappropriately and Twitter should have abided by their own personal terms and conditions by at least temporarily suspending his account in the past. The president violates these terms by inciting violence on his Twitter page. He’s been criticized for retweeting a GIF of himself hitting Hilary Clinton in the head with a golf ball and  by continuously threatening North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung-un. One tweet in particular in which he states that North Korea will “not be around much longer,” pressured a response from Twitter. The tweet was so threatening that even their foreign minister considered it a declaration of war. However, Twitter considers anything that Trump tweets as newsworthy and therefore, not a violation of their terms of use, regardless of the nature and potential consequences of his statements. While Twitter may deem them acceptable, we believe that this abusive use of Twitter undermines the stature of the presidency.

Although Trump’s use of Twitter is unconventional, we argue that he has been forced to use it. This is due to the media coverage he receives. Although he’s been forced to use it, it still does not excuse the nature of some of his tweets. The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan research group, has confirmed this by concluding that the media covers more negative stories about Trump than previous presidents. This negative coverage forces Trump to find his own platform in which to communicate to the masses more directly. Although Twitter may not be the most professional way to communicate, it has been effective enough for someone to be provoked enough to delete it. The very fact that this employee is being called a hero for his actions only solidifies the biases of the media.

Finally, deleting Trump’s Twitter says little about the heroism of the employee, and instead, raises questions about the security of the social media giant. The fact that a low level, customer service employee was able to delete the account of the President of the United States makes the company seem severely unsecure. While it may seem insignificant and petty for the employee to delete his account for a mere 11 minutes, imagine if they, or someone else, had something more sinister in mind. The culprit could have sent out a false tweet that might have had dire consequences. Perhaps they hoped their stunt would raise the question of security and therefore discourage Trump from using the platform. If this was their motive, they seem more like a bully, an anti-hero, by intimidating Trump and others from using twitter.

To conclude, we disagree with those calling the Twitter employee a hero for shutting down his Twitter. The employee acted more like a cowardly villain than a hero by abusing their power on their last day of work. Trump may be abusive on Twitter at times, he should still be respected as the President of the United States. In the future, Trump may be more mindful of the things he decides to post because of Twitter’s now questionable security. Although his avid use of Twitter somewhat diminishes the stature of the presidency, the employee still acted inappropriately and should not be regarded as a hero.

This editorial was written by Rachael Harris based on the stance of a Media Milwaukee editorial board.