Rush Limbaugh Deactivates Twitter Account

In what might be seen as a preemptive move given recent developments in social media, conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has deactivated his Twitter account. Twitter confirmed to USA Today that the @RealRLimbaugh account—which the paper says featured rhetoric similar to that which appeared on President Trump’s now-silenced account—was “deactivated by the owner.” The account had 88.6 million followers, according to the New York Post. Limbaugh, who has called social media a “cesspool,” opened the account in October.

At that time, he said: “We are gonna be doubling down. We’re gonna be doing everything we can in these last three weeks to take the message of preserving the American way of life,” per USA Today. Twitter permanently banned Trump on Friday, citing “risk of further incitement of violence” after a mob of his supporters invaded the US Capitol. Later that day, the social media company did the same to his campaign account, per Mashable, saying it was used to “try to evade suspension” by allowing the president to tweet from it. The accounts of Trump supporters Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, who have been pushing unfounded election fraud allegations, have also been suspended. (More Twitter stories.)