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Platforms take action against Trump after Capitol mob attack

Online platforms have taken action against President Donald Trump in response to his encouragement of a pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6th. That day, Facebook and Twitter removed some of Trump’s social media posts, a video, and instituted short-term bans on Trump’s accounts.

But on January 7th, platforms began taking more drastic action, with Facebook deciding to ban Trump “indefinitely,” and Shopify taking down Trump’s campaign store (which sold Make America Great Again hats). More actions may follow.

We’ll be following the situation closely, and you can keep up with all of the developments right here.

  • Jay Peters

    Jan 9, 2021

    Jay Peters

    Discord bans pro-Trump server ‘The Donald’

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Discord has banned a server called “The Donald,” a pro-Trump community linked to banned subreddit r/The_Donald and TheDonald.win. The news was first reported by Platformer writer (and Verge contributor) Casey Newton.

    The ban comes two days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, encouraged by President Trump, though Discord says that it has no evidence that the server was used to organize the riots.

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  • Twitter permanently bans Trump

    President Donald J. Trump...
    Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

    Twitter permanently banned President Donald Trump on Friday, days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol leaving five dead.

    “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a statement Friday.

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  • Kim Lyons

    Jan 8, 2021

    Kim Lyons

    Apple and Google face pressure to deplatform Parler over calls to violence

    This illustration picture shows the social media website from Parler displayed on a computer screen.
    Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images

    Apple and Google are facing new pressure to deplatform Parler, a social network founded as a less moderated and more conservative-friendly alternative to Facebook and Twitter. Late Friday, BuzzFeed News reported that Apple has given Parler 24 hours to put a moderation platform into place or be expelled from its App Store.

    Apple wrote to Parler executives Friday telling them it had received complaints about “objectionable content,” according to BuzzFeed, “accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property. The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.” If Parler doesn’t comply, the app will be removed from the App Store.

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  • Adi Robertson

    Jan 8, 2021

    Adi Robertson

    Twitter bans QAnon supporters, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn

    Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn Returns To Court
    Photo by Alex Wroblewski / Getty Images

    Twitter has suspended prominent backers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, citing a potential for “offline harm.” NBC News reporter Ben Collins reported the ban of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, and former 8kun administrator Ron Watkins. Other major QAnon accounts have apparently been banned as well.

    Twitter told NBC News that the accounts were suspended under Twitter’s “coordinated harmful activity” ban. “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content,” a spokesperson said.

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  • Hundreds of Twitter employees call for Trump to be banned

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    More than 300 Twitter employees have signed an internal petition calling for President Donald Trump to be permanently banned from the platform following a raid on the US Capitol on January 6th. Roughly an hour and a half after we published this story, Twitter apparently agreed — President Donald Trump has been permanently banned from Twitter.

    The letter said that the employees are “disturbed” by the attack and that Twitter must “permanently suspend” Trump because of his involvement, according to a copy of the letter seen by The Verge. The Washington Post first reported on the letter’s circulation.

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  • Adi Robertson

    Jan 8, 2021

    Adi Robertson

    Reddit bans r/donaldtrump forum for inciting violence

    Washington D.C. Tense After U.S. Capitol Is Stormed By Protestors On Wednesday
    Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

    Reddit has banned r/donaldtrump for encouraging and glorifying violence after Wednesday’s mob attack on the US Capitol. Axios reporter Sara Fischer first reported the news, noting that the unofficial pro-Trump forum had been given multiple warnings. A Reddit splash page says the subreddit was “banned due to a violation of Reddit’s rules against inciting violence.”

    “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit content that promotes hate, or encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals. In accordance with this, we have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of our policies and to offer support or resources as needed,” a Reddit spokesperson tells The Verge. “We have also taken action to ban the community r/donaldtrump given repeated policy violations in recent days regarding the violence at the US Capitol.”

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  • Jay Peters

    Jan 8, 2021

    Jay Peters

    TikTok will remove videos of Trump inciting supporters to storm the Capitol

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    TikTok will remove videos of President Trump’s speech inciting supporters to mob the US Capitol on Wednesday, saying they violate the company’s misinformation policy. TikTok will still let people post “counter speech” videos that dispute incorrect claims, however, and will let videos remain on the platform if they condemn violence or if they’re posted by news organizations. TechCrunch was the first to report the news.

    “Hateful behavior and violence have no place on TikTok,” the company said in a statement. “Content or accounts that seek to incite, glorify, or promote violence violate our Community Guidelines and will be removed.”

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  • Jay Peters

    Jan 7, 2021

    Jay Peters

    Twitch disables Trump’s account

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Twitch has disabled President Donald Trump’s account indefinitely following his encouragement of a pro-Trump mob’s attack of the US Capitol on Wednesday.

    “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel,” a Twitch spokesperson said in a statement. “Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.” The company says it will reassess Trump’s account after he leaves office.

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  • Jan 7, 2021

    Julia Alexander

    YouTube says it will punish Trump and other channels that continue to spread election lies

    President Trump Addresses Protesters In D.C. Via Video Statement
    Photo by Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

    YouTube will temporarily restrict channels that post videos containing widespread misinformation about 2020 election results — including the channel of President Donald Trump.

    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. This includes Trump’s channel. Channels that earn one strike are restricted from posting for one week.

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  • Kim Lyons

    Jan 7, 2021

    Kim Lyons

    Shopify takes down Trump’s campaign store

    Shopify

    Shopify has taken down e-commerce sites from the Trump Organization and Trump campaign in response to Wednesday’s violence at the US Capitol building, The Wall Street Journal reported.

    Both TrumpStore.com and the Trump campaign’s Shop.DonaldJTrump.com, which sold Make America Great Again hats and other merchandise, were both offline Thursday morning. A Shopify spokesperson told the WSJ that the company’s trust and safety team had determined the president had violated company policy against promoting or supporting violence in his Wednesday comments.

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  • Makena Kelly

    Jan 7, 2021

    Makena Kelly

    Facebook bans Trump ‘indefinitely’

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    In a blog post Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would ban President Donald Trump from its platforms “indefinitely” following a pro-Trump attack on the US Capitol this week. The ban will not be lifted before Inauguration Day, according to Zuckerberg.

    “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” said Zuckerberg. “We are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

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  • Jay Peters

    Jan 7, 2021

    Jay Peters

    Facebook and Instagram ban Trump for 24 hours

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Facebook has blocked President Trump from posting on the site for 24 hours, the company said Wednesday evening. The decision comes after the company already removed posts he made in support of the pro-Trump mob that attacked the US Capitol on Wednesday.

    “We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’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,” the statement reads.

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  • Adi Robertson

    Jan 7, 2021

    Adi Robertson

    Twitter says Trump’s account is locked, and he’s facing a ban

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Twitter is locking President Donald Trump’s account for 12 hours after removing three tweets that contained “repeated and severe violations” of its civic integrity policy. It says the account will be permanently suspended if violations continue, and it will not be unlocked unless Trump entirely deletes the three offending tweets. The decision comes after Trump tweeted a video that Twitter said posed a “risk of violence.”

    “As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC, we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy,” the Twitter Safety account tweeted. “This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked. Future violations of the Twitter Rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

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  • Makena Kelly

    Jan 6, 2021

    Makena Kelly

    Facebook declares ‘emergency situation’ and removes Trump video

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    As rioters attacked the US Capitol on Wednesday, Facebook removed a video from President Donald Trump responding to the violence. The decision came around an hour after the video was posted on the platform.

    “This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” said Guy Rosen, Facebook vice president of integrity, in a tweet Wednesday. “We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”

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  • Jan 6, 2021

    Julia Alexander

    YouTube removes Trump video addressing Capitol attack

    The YouTube logo on a black background
    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    YouTube has removed a video from President Donald Trump addressing a mob attack on the Capitol today because the president repeats false information about the outcome of the 2020 election, The Verge has learned.

    The company will allow Trump’s message to appear in other creators’ videos if there is proper educational or news context; basically, if people are talking about Trump’s message as part of a greater point, YouTube will allow it to remain up. The removal comes after YouTube instituted a new policy update in December 2020 that forbids any type of content that alleges widespread voter fraud impacted the results of the 2020 presidential election. In Trump’s new video, which was also posted to Twitter and Facebook, he continued to spread misinformation about the 2020 election, calling the results fraudulent.

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  • Makena Kelly

    Jan 6, 2021

    Makena Kelly

    Twitter pulls Trump video that it said posed a ‘risk of violence’

    US-POLITICS-ELECTION-TRUMP
    Photo by Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images

    In the wake of an unprecedented mob attack on the Capitol building, Twitter restricted and then removed a tweet from President Donald Trump, including its attached video. Users initially could no longer reply to, like, or retweet the post due to what Twitter referred to as a “risk of violence.” The tweet containing the video was then deleted entirely with a nonspecific link to Twitter’s policy guidelines.

    In Trump’s Wednesday Twitter video, he responded to mob violence at the US Capitol calling on rioters to peacefully “go home” hours after the chaos began. But he also repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and did not denounce the violence, leading some to find the calls for order unconvincing. “We had an election that was stolen from us,” Trump said in the video. “It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now.”

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