The Indian-American who led Donald Trump’s Twitter ban

Photo courtesy: Twitter/@vijaya
Photo courtesy: Twitter/@vijaya

On Friday, January 8, Twitter permanently suspended US President Donald Trump’s Twitter accounts. And the decision to do so was spearheaded by a 45-year-old immigrant from India, Vijaya Gadde. 

Gadde, the company's head of Legal, Policy and Trust and Safety issues, on Twitter said, "The account of @realDonaldTrump has been permanently suspended from Twitter due to the risk of further violence. We've also published our policy enforcement analysis – you can read more about our decision here."

The social media giant decided to ban Trump’s accounts following the attack on the US Capitol that they believe were encouraged and supported by the President’s posts. 

Gadde has been at Twitter since 2011, prior to which she worked for about a decade at a Bay Area-based law firm working with tech startups. She was born in India and moved to the US as a child, growing up in Texas. She completed her high school in New Jersey and then went on to study at Cornell University and New York University Law School.