Twitter announced that U.S. President Donald Trump's account will be locked for the next 12 hours for violating the platform's violent threats policies. "If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked," the Twitter Safety team said in a thread.

The unprecedented decision followed the removal of three tweets over "severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy," which flamed a mob of pro-Trump rioters into the U.S. Capitol Hill on Wednesday.  

"As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy," Twitter's safety-enforcement team said in a tweet. 

One of the controversial tweets was a video in which Trump spoke directly to his supporters and repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

Twitter has made the tweets unavailable. "If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked," the Twitter Safety team said in a thread.

The company also threatened to permanently ban Trump's account if the violations continue.

"Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account," the Twitter Safety team said. 

Trump's privilege on Twitter as a world leader 

President Trump has been an incredibly active Twitter user, using the platform to reach a wide audience on a daily basis. 

As one of the most influential users on Twitter, he has posted some disputed content before, challenging the policies of the social media network. But his messages at times received special treatment, as Twitter has a special rule around world leaders, claiming their statements are particularly noteworthy. 

For example, during the protests over the death of African American George Floyd's in May, Trump's posting that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" sparked anger. Twitter restricted it from being viewed directly but did not remove it, even though it said it "glorifies violence."

The company has also placed special labels for other tweets involving false or misleading claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

In November, Twitter said that it would not grant Trump's account special status after January 20, when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. That means Trump's account will be subject to the same rules as any other user, such as bans on false information and content that could incite violence.