Shopify, Twitch, YouTube And Social Media: Where Bans On Donald Trump Stand
The protests at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and the videos released by President Donald Trump afterward have forced companies to decide whether to take a stand against the outgoing president and if anything he said violates their terms.
The violence and protests that happened on Wednesday have seen entrepreneurs and leading investors call on social media sites to remove the Trump accounts. Information shared by the accounts could have inspired some of Wednesday’s protests.
See Also: Big Tech CEOs Condemn Capitol Violence, Term It 'Shameful,' 'Antithesis Of Democracy'
What Happened: Twitter Inc (NASDAQ: TWTR) took down a post from Trump on Wednesday night and announced a temporary ban on the account.
The account will also have to remove offensive tweets and tweets with misinformation before being reinstated.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) originally announced a 24-hour ban to Trump on both Facebook and Instagram due to policy violations. On Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company was banning Trump indefinitely.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg said in a statement. The ban will last at least through the next two weeks “until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”
Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP) announced it was pulling the Donald Trump stores off its platform, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence. We have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy,” the company said in a statement.
Shopify hosts shops related to Trump’s campaign paraphernalia and his personal brand with the Trump Store.
Twitch, owned by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), told IGN it's disabling Trump’s channel over the risk of more violence. The streaming company didn't state how long the ban would last.
“We believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence,” the company told IGN.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL), is temporarily restricting channels that post misinformation including the channel of President Trump, according to The Verge. The company announced a strike system that will lock accounts from posting for a week instead of simply removing videos.
Photo by Emily Elconin.
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