Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have taken down a video in which President Trump addressed his supporters as a crowd of Trump supporter protesters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. The sites said the video, in which Mr. Trump showed sympathy with the protesters and repeatedly made false claims about the election, contributed to the ongoing violence and violated misinformation policies.
Twitter and Facebook went a step further and locked the president’s accounts.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday that its block will remain unchanged Through the end of the president’s term And possibly indefinitely.
“We believe that the risks of allowing the president to use our service during this period are enormous,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. “Therefore, we are expanding the block we have placed on her Facebook and Instagram account indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until a peaceful transition of power is completed.”
Twitter freezes the president’s account for 12 hours and requires him to tweet down. It said the @realdonaldtrump account would be permanently suspended if it continued to violate Twitter’s rules even after that.
In the now-deleted video, Mr. Trump told his supporters: “I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us” – a claim he made even after his attorney general Continues to do. Was confirmed No evidence of such fraud And the courts dismissed her lawsuits.
The president continued the video, “But you have to go home now. We have to keep peace.”
“We have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want to hurt anyone,” he said, before relying on a message of defiance: “. ..There has not been a time. This is where it happened, where they can take it away from all of us, me, you, our country. ”
“But we cannot play in the hands of these people,” he told his supporters. “We love you. You’re so special. You see what happens the way you see others being treated in a way that’s so bad and so bad. I know how you feel But go home peacefully. ”
Twitter first flagged off the video and barred Mr. Trump’s followers from commenting, retweeting or liking the video, before taking it down and then locking his account for 12 hours. Twitter said that the president must delete the tweet to restore his account.
As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets, which were posted earlier today for repeated and serious violations of our Civic Integrity Policy, “in a tweet. Said, a Link to policy, Which prohibits “manipulating or interfering with elections or other civic processes” or posting inaccurate information about them.
Facebook On Thursday, it was initially said that Mr. Trump would not be able to post on the forum or Instagram for 24 hours, before lifting the ban on Thursday.
“The priority for the entire country now is to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days following the inauguration are peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms,” Zuckerberg said.
Guy Rosen, who oversees Facebook’s work on security and integrity, tweeted on Wednesday
The social media site took the video of Mr Trump as part of “an emergency.”
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to reducing the risk of continued violence,” Rosen said.
Facebook also said on Wednesday that it is searching for and deleting any content in Washington, DC to “praise and support” it. It is also removing content that provokes or encourages events in the Capitol. Washington, DC calls for protests violating curfew, or attempts to “pacify violence” in the coming days.
Facebook said, “We are plagued by violence in the Capitol today. We are treating these incidents as an emergency.” “Our election operations center is already active in anticipation of the vote by the Georgia election and Congress to certify the elections, and we are monitoring the activity on our platform in real time.”
YouTube said in a statement to CBS News that the company removed the video from the president’s channel because it “violated our policies regarding content that alleges widespread fraud or errors that changed the outcome of the 2020 US election gave.”
However, the company will allow copies of the video to be uploaded with “additional references and substantial educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic (EDSA) value.”
Video remains live on Trump campaign Parler Page, where it received 1.3 million views as of Wednesday evening.
.