Facebook, Snapchat also suspend Trump’s account

WASHINGTON (TIP): Twitter banned President Donald Trump's account citing
“the risk of further incitement of violence.”

The social platform has been under growing pressure to take further action against
Mr. Trump following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Twitter initially
suspended Mr. Trump's account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated
false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

Twitter's move deprives Mr. Trump of a potent tool he has used to communicate
directly with the American people for more than a decade. He has used Twitter to
announce policy changes, challenge opponents, insult enemies, praise his allies
(and himself), and to spread misinformation.

Twitter has long given Mr. Trump and other world leaders broad exemptions from
its rules against personal attacks, hate speech and other behaviors. But in a lengthy
explanation posted on its blog Friday, the company said recent Mr. Trump tweets

amounted to glorification of violence when read in the context of the Capitol riot
and plans circulating online for future armed protests around the inauguration of
President-elect Joe Biden.

Also read: U.S. Capitol breach | Democrats tell 'unhinged' Trump to step down or
be impeached

In those tweets, Mr. Trump stated that he will not be attending the inauguration
and referred to his supporters as “American Patriots,” saying they will have “a
GIANT VOICE long into the future.” Twitter said these statements “are likely to
inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and
that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as
encouragement to do so."

Here is the full statement from Twitter:
Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump

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.

In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that
additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very
course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear
from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the
people have a right to hold power to account in the open.

However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our
rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things. We
will continue to be transparent around our policies and their enforcement.

The below is a comprehensive analysis of our policy enforcement approach in this
case.

Overview

On January 8, 2021, President Donald J. Trump tweeted:

“The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST,
and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the
future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or
form!!!”

Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January
20th.”

Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global
conversation in regard to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January
6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the
country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by
different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the
pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language
in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined
that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the
user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the
service.

Assessment

We assessed the two Tweets referenced above under our Glorification of Violence
policy, which aims to prevent the glorification of violence that could inspire others
to replicate violent acts and determined that they were highly likely to encourage
and inspire people to replicate the criminal acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol
on January 6, 2021.

This determination is based on a number of factors, including:

President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the Inauguration is being
received by a number of his supporters as further confirmation that the election
was not legitimate and is seen as him disavowing his previous claim made via two
Tweets (1, 2) by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Dan Scavino, that there would be an
“orderly transition” on January 20th.
The second Tweet may also serve as encouragement to those potentially
considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a “safe” target, as he will
not be attending.
The use of the words “American Patriots” to describe some of his supporters is
also being interpreted as support for those committing violent acts at the US
Capitol.
The mention of his supporters having a “GIANT VOICE long into the future” and
that “They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or
form!!!” is being interpreted as further indication that President Trump does not
plan to facilitate an “orderly transition” and instead that he plans to continue to
support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election.
Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off-
Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state capitol
buildings on January 17, 2021.
As such, our determination is that the two Tweets above are likely to inspire others
to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are
multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement
to do so.

Facebook also banned Trump indefinitely.
"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service are
simply too great," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said as he banned Mr. Trump
from Instagram too.
Facebook banned President Donald Trump from the platform "indefinitely" due to
his efforts to incite violence at the U.S. Capitol, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg
said on January 7.

Mr. Zuckerberg said the 24-hour ban announced on January 6 on Mr. Trump's
accounts including on Instagram was extended because of Mr. Trump's "use of our
platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected
government".

The Facebook CEO added: "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."

The announcement came the day after the outgoing U.S. leader was locked out of
all major social media platforms due to his false claims about the legitimacy of his
loss to Mr. Biden, and for inciting the angry mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol.

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service
during this period are simply too great," Mr. Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook
page. "Therefore, 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."

Snapchat suspension
Snapchat confirmed on January 7 that it locked Mr. Trump out of the photo sharing
platform amid concerns over his dangerous rhetoric.

The social media announcements came after Mr. Trump's supporters stormed the
U.S. Capitol on January 6 in an unprecedented attack that led to one woman being
shot and killed by police, interrupting the normally ceremonial procedure to certify
Mr. Biden's election victory.

Mr. Trump, who had addressed the mob and urged them to march on the Capitol,
later released a video on social media in which he repeated the false claim of
election fraud — even telling the mob "we love you".

YouTube removed the video in line with its policy barring claims challenging
election results.

Twitter said Mr. Trump's messages were violations of the platform's rules on civic
integrity and that any future violations "will result in permanent suspension of the
@realDonaldTrump account".

The messaging platform said Mr. Trump's account would be locked for 12 hours
and that if the offending tweets were not removed, "the account will remain
locked."

Critics of the online platforms argued they moved too slowly as the January 6
violence was organized on social media, directing their ire at Mr. Zuckerberg and
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

"You’ve got blood on your hands, @jack and Zuck," tweeted Chris Sacca, an early
Facebook investor who has become one of its harshest critics. "For four years
you’ve rationalized this terror. Inciting violent treason is not a free speech exercise.
If you work at those companies, it’s on you too."