German Chancellor Angela Merkel considers the company's expulsion of US President Donald Trump from Twitter "problematic", her spokesman said on Monday.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the microblogging platform on Friday, citing a "risk of further inciting violence" in the wake of the attack on the US Capitol by supporters of the outgoing president.
Five people were killed after thousands of Trump supporters marched and occupied the federal government building in Washington DC after a rally where Trump addressed the crowds.
Asked about Twitter's decision, Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said that operators of social media platforms "bear a great responsibility to ensure that political communication is not poisoned by hatred, lies and incitement to violence".
In a blog post published on Sunday, he wrote: “What we saw on Wednesday was just the culmination of very disturbing developments that have occurred globally in recent years. It should be a wake-up call for all defenders of democracy."
"To fight fraud and attacks on democratic values and to overcome the divisions of our societies. Not only in the US, but all over the world, there are political leaders – in opposition and also increasingly in power – ready to undermine democratic institutions”.
But Seibert also said freedom of thought is a fundamental right of "fundamental importance."
"This fundamental right can be interfered with, but according to the law and within the framework defined by the legislators - not according to a decision by the management of the social media platforms," he told reporters in Berlin.
"From this point of view, the Chancellor considers it problematic that the accounts of the American president are now permanently blocked."
Facebook suspended Trump's account Thursday until Jan. 20 — the day of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration — and possibly indefinitely.
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