Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have taken the unprecedented step of suspending U.S. President Donald Trump from the platforms after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday.
Twitter was the first to announce its decision, saying it has locked the president’s account for 12 hours.
The move came after Twitter removed three of the president’s tweets, saying the posts were “repeated and severe violations” of the platform’s Civic Integrity policy.
Twitter cited the “unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington D.C.,” as its justification for removing the posts.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970431039934464
According to Twitter Safety, Trump’s account will be locked for 12 hours.
“If the tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked,” a tweet from the platform said, adding that future violations could result in “permanent suspension” of the account.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970432017031178
The move comes after protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol during the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential win on Wednesday, resulting in windows smashed, guns drawn in the House and the death of one woman.
Politicians and reporters have fled to safer parts of the building and the mayor has imposed a 6 p.m. ET curfew for the entire D.C. area.
As the violence raged on, Trump published a video on Twitter in which he told protestors to “go home” while he decried what he baselessly referred to as a “fraudulent election.”
“I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election. And everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. We have to have peace,” Trump said in the video.
“So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace.”
Twitter had initially made it so that users could not engage with the tweet featuring that video due to a “risk of violence,” and later the tweet was deleted.
Facebook also took action against the video, removing it from their platform in its entirety.
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“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” wrote Facebook’s Vice-President of Integrity, Guy Rosen, on Twitter.
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
In a tweet just after 8:30 p.m. ET, Facebook confirmed it would also be blocking Trump’s account for 24 hours.
The platform said it had assessed two policy violations against the president’s page “which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.”
Meanwhile, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, said the president would be blocked from the photo sharing platform for 24 hours as well.
The president’s Snapchat account has also been locked.
“We can confirm that earlier today we locked President Trump’s Snapchat account,” a spokesperson said in an email to Global News.
The platform has not yet decided how long his account will remain blocked, the spokesperson said, adding that the team will continue to monitor the situation very closely.
In June, Snapchat announced it would no longer promote the president’s account, meaning only those who choose to search or subscribe could see his account.
“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,” the platform said in a previous statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, users called on Facebook to delete Trump’s account and for the platform to address the groups where individuals spread disinformation and misinformation about the election — culminating in the violence that took place on Wednesday.
The president was also tweeting information discrediting the U.S. election result, issuing unsubstantiated claims that the election was “rigged.”
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” tweeted Trump.
“USA demands the truth!”
Twitter made it so that users could not reply to, retweet or like that tweet before it was ultimately deleted.
Trump also tweeted in December about the Wednesday rally that led to the violence, telling his reporters to “be there” and that it “will be wild.”
Speaking at the Wednesday rally, Trump said he would “never concede” the election and goaded the crowd to march on the Capitol, where hordes of protesters were already gathered.
“We will never give up,” Trump told the lunchtime rally.
While he tweeted a request for everyone in the Capitol to “remain peaceful,” the violence raged on — prompting calls for his account to be suspended.
“And Twitter needs to suspend Trump’s account. How is he allowed to keep fomenting this sedition?” wrote twitter user Roxane Gay.
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1346910927111684096
Another user wrote that Trump should be “arrested” in addition to the suspension.
One user added that if Twitter doesn’t suspend Trump’s account, then they will also be partially responsible for the violence.
In a statement emailed to Global News, a spokesperson for YouTube said its teams are “working to quickly remove livestreams and other content that violates our policies, including those against incitement to violence or regarding footage of graphic violence.”
The platform said it is also “continuing to raise up authoritative news sources” on its home page, search results and recommendations.
“We will remain vigilant in the coming hours,” the statement said.
-With files from Global News’ Hannah Jackson
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