Donald Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter on Saturday (NZ time), prompting widespread reactions of relief, outrage, and many, many memes.
Twitter banned the US President from its platform due to the "risk of further incitement of violence", after he posted two tweets during Wednesday's Capitol riots.
On Friday, Trump wrote on Twitter: "The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future.
"They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape, or form!!!"
Shortly after, he wrote: "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th."
In a statement, Twitter said: "Our determination is that the two tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021."
Many have reacted in outrage - both Trump supporters and otherwise - claiming the ban is silencing free speech.
US Senator Ted Cruz called the suspension an "absurd & profoundly dangerous" abuse of power while another user said the ban was an "unacceptable act of censorship".
"We might not agree on everything someone says, but to ban ideas and thoughts isn't dialogue it's [an] oppression of free speech," one user wrote.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley described Trump's ban as an instance of "silencing", the kind that happens in China and "not our country".
Others have said the ban should've come much sooner: "It's honestly so depressing that all of this could've been done 5.5 years ago and just wasn't," one said on Twitter.
"He already went with his move. People died," another wrote. "The f**k blocking social media gone do?!"
Celebrities have chimed in, many gleefully accepting the platform's ban of the president. American model Chrissy Teigen simply wrote: "AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA…"
The Hulk actor Mark Ruffalo thanked Twitter for the ban.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton highlighted her own former tweet from 2016, where she replied to Trump: "Delete your account."
But after the turbulent week, the biggest reactions of all were the memes. Some depicted accounts pretending to be Trump incognito, others trying to decipher Melania Trump's password.
A few hours after his ban, Trump posted on Twitter using the official @POTUS account and on the Trump campaign's @TeamTrump account, which has now been suspended.
In the posts, which were swiftly deleted, Trump claimed he was negotiating with "various other sites" while also looking at building his own platform "in the near future".
"We will not be SILENCED!" Trump wrote.
More social media suspensions
Trump has been banned from Facebook and Instagram for at least the next two weeks until the transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden is complete.
Reddit has banned the 'R/DonaldTrump' subreddit, Twitch has disabled Trump's channel, and Snapchat has disabled Trump's account.
TikTok is removing content violations and redirecting hashtags like #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty to its community guidelines.
"Hateful behaviour and violence have no place on TikTok," a TikTok spokesperson said.
