Donald Trump has been permanently blocked and Suspended on various social media platforms following the Capitol Riot which happened on January 6, 2021; this act was performed by a mob of Trump supporters that did not agree with the appointment of Joe Biden as the President-elect of US.
BizWatch Nigeria had reported that Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered the country’s flag to be flown at half-mast to honour the police officers who died during the invasion of the US Capitol.
On January 16, 2021, Donald Trump was impeached for the second time close to the end of his tenure, he was first impeached in 2019.
Following the Capitol riot, his alleged involvement which led to the riot and his posts and comments, some social media companies having gone evaluating his posts decided to restrict his access to their site.
READ ALSO: US House Of Reps. Impeaches Trump
Social Media Platforms That Blocked/Banned Trump’s Account
Facebook and Instagram
On January 7, Facebook imposed a 24-hour block on Trump’s account after he violated 2 of their policies. Later that day, Mark Zuckerberg released a post on his Facebook page, he also revealed that Trump’s account on Facebook and Instagram have been suspended indefinitely.
Facebook and Instagram had on January 6, worked to keep their platform safe following the riot, to remove and sanction violent posts and removed hashtags promoting the riot, such as StormTheCapitol.
Twitter which happens to be Trump’s favorite platform, temporarily blocked him for 12 hours after the deadly attack on the US Capitol on January 6 and threatened permanent suspension if he continued breaking its rules.
Trump returned to Twitter the following day posting a video message that seemingly aimed at calming tensions after the mayhem caused by his supporters.
BizWatch Nigeria had reported that Twitter has permanently suspended Trump’s account on January 9, quoting the risk of further violence following the assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Twitter in a post on its blog said that ‘After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.’
Snapchat
Trump was locked out of his Snapchat account after pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol. A Snap spokesperson said that the action was taken on January 6 and added that the company will monitor the situation closely before re-evaluating its decision.
Snap’s co-founder and chief executive officer Evan Spiegel said that Snapchat “simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform.”
YouTube
YouTube announced that it will temporarily restrict channels (including Trump’s channel) that post videos containing widespread misinformation about 2020 election results.
BizWatch Nigeria had reported that YouTube temporarily suspended Trump’s channel and removed a video for violating its policy against inciting violence, joining other social media platforms in banning his accounts after last week’s Capitol riot.
Instead of simply removing videos that spread misinformation, any channel that post videos with false claims about the election will now receive a strike, temporarily preventing them from uploading videos.
If a channel receives three “strikes” in a 90-day period, it will be removed from the platform.
In December 2020, YouTube had introduced a new policy that prohibits contents from spreading false information.
Google announced that it has suspended an app called; Parler, a “free speech” Twitter clone popular with Trump supporters, from its Play Store pending the implementation of “robust moderation for egregious content”
Shopify
Online stores run by the Trump Organization and Trump campaign were taken offline on Thursday by Shopify Inc., an e-commerce software provider, in response to Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol. TrumpStore.com is the official e-commerce site of the Trump Organization and shop.donaldjtrump.com is the Trump campaign’s official store.
“Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” Shopify said in a statement to the New York Times.
READ ALSO: Capitol Riot: US Lowers Flag To Honour Slain Police Officers
TikTok
TikTok last year suffered in the hands of Trump, as he vowed to ban TikTok.
TikTok pulled down videos that could incite the violence at the Capitol.
The company has said it will also redirect popular hashtags used by the rioters.
The online content aggregator is said to have banned the popular subreddit group r/DonaldTrump for inciting violence.
A note on the page currently reads: “This community was banned due to a violation of Reddit’s rules against inciting violence.”
The Next Step?
What is the next step for Donald Trump have been impeached and banned from the cool and popular social media platforms?
