WASHINGTON: Twitter on Wednesday (Jan 6) locked the account of President Donald Trump for 12 hours and threatened its permanent suspension, as tech giants scrambled to crack down on his baseless claims about the US presidential elections amid riots at the US Capitol.
In a rapidly evolving sequence of events, Facebook later tweeted it would also block Trump's page from posting for 24 hours due to two policy violations. Facebook-owned Instagram said it would also block the president's account for 24 hours as well.
The response from social media came amid accusations the president was attempting a coup, with protesters storming the Capitol building seeking to derail the certification of Joe Biden's election victory.
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The president and his allies have continuously spread unsubstantiated claims of election fraud that have proliferated online.
Twitter hid and required the removal of three of Trump's tweets "as a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, DC".
If the tweets are not removed, the account would remain locked, Twitter said, meaning the president would be unable to tweet from @realDonaldTrump. His Twitter account is followed by about 88 million people.
Facebook and YouTube, owned by Alphabet's Google, also removed a video in which Trump continued to allege the presidential election was fraudulent even as he urged protesters to go home.
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RISK OF VIOLENCE
"This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video," Facebook vice president of integrity Guy Rosen said in a tweet.
"We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence."
It was also taken down from Instagram.
YouTube said Trump's video violated its policy against content that alleges "widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 US Election". YouTube spokesman Farshad Shadloo added the company does allow copies that include additional context.
"As the situation at the United States Capitol Building unfolds, our 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," said YouTube spokesperson Alex Joseph.
Both Facebook and Twitter had originally added labels and measures to slow the video's spread.
Facebook subsequently said it would search for and remove content which praised the storming of the Capitol or encouraged the violence.
The massive social network said it would also seek to take down additional calls for protests, including peaceful ones, if they violate a curfew imposed by the city of Washington, or any attempts to "restage" the storming of Congress.
"The violent protests in the Capitol today are a disgrace," a Facebook spokesperson said.
"We prohibit incitement and calls for violence on our platform. We are actively reviewing and removing any content that breaks these rules."
Facebook maintained that it was in contact with law enforcement officials and continued to enforce bans on QAnon conspiracy group, militarised social movements, and hate groups.
A #StormTheCapitol hashtag was blocked at Facebook and Instagram, according to the Internet titan.
READ: 'It's insurrection,' says Biden, as Trump supporters storm US Capitol
READ: Donald Trump tells supporters to 'go home' after storming of US Capitol
Earlier, dozens of Facebook staffers called for executives to clarify how they were handling Trump's posts, with some calling for his account to be taken down for inciting the violence at the Capitol, according to internal posts seen by Reuters.
"Can we get some courage and actual action from leadership in response to this behavior? Your silence is disappointing at the least and criminal at worst," one employee wrote.
Internal communications managers quickly closed comments on the threads, saying in identical posts that updates would be provided but "the priority right now is actively dealing with the ongoing situation".
According to researchers and public postings, violent rhetoric and advice on weaponry ramped up significantly in the past three weeks on many social media platforms as multiple groups planned rallies for Wednesday, including Trump supporters, white nationalists and enthusiasts of the wide-ranging conspiracy theory QAnon.
The Anti-Defamation League called for social media companies to suspend Trump's accounts permanently, saying the events at the Capitol resulted from "fear and disinformation that has been spewed directly from the Oval Office".
Former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos tweeted: "Twitter and Facebook have to cut him off."
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC90d2l0dGVyLXN1c3BlbmRzLXRydW1wLWFjY291bnQtdGhyZWF0ZW5zLWJhbi11cy1lbGVjdGlvbi0xMzkxMDM0ONIBAA?oc=5
2021-01-07 01:07:30Z
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