Facebook and Twitter last night locked Donald Trump’s page after the president’s followers stormed the US Capitol building.
“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,” Facebook said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The platform earlier removed a video in which Mr Trump addressed his supporters who had clashed with police in Washington DC forcing a lockdown at the US Capitol building.
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.
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021
Facebook’s vice president of integrity Guy Rosen, tweeted: “This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video.”
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
In chaotic scenes, supporters of Mr Trump breached barricades and staged an occupation of the building in Washington DC to interrupt politicians’ formal approval of Joe Biden’s presidential election win.
Twitter subsequently locked Mr Trump’s account for the first time and demanded he remove tweets excusing violence as it threatened him with “permanent suspension” from the platform.
“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,” Twitter Safety posted.
This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.
— Guy Rosen (@guyro) January 6, 2021
“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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