Herrera-Flanigan added that Twitter "deployed numerous policy and product interventions to protect the public conversation" before and after the 2020 election, and said that on January 6 the company "leveraged the systems we had built leading up to the election to respond to the unprecedented attack in real-time."
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Twitter designated the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as violent extremist groups in July 2018 and September 2020, respectively, and says it has permanently suspended accounts associated with the groups in line with its policy prohibiting violent organizations, according to a company spokesperson. The spokesperson added that many of the groups and individuals responsible for organizing the January 6 insurrection had been suspended from Twitter prior to the attack.
Among its efforts following the 2020 election, Twitter's teams began in December 2020 observing tweets about a large protest in Washington, DC, set for January 6, and started monitoring related content, taking action against election misinformation, references to "last stands" and few direct violent threats, according to the company.
