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Science & Tech
Greg Evans
Jan 10, 2021
Donald Trump’s ban from Twitter was possibly the biggest and most significant social media suspension ever in the entire history of United States politics.
Trump’s reliance on Twitter which he frequently used to share his own views, no matter how controversial they were was arguably his best tool of communication but following Wednesday’s riot in Washington DC, Twitter decided that they could not risk any further incitements of violence and pulled the plug on @realDonaldTrump and his 57,000 tweets.
The Twitter ban is just one of several major platforms to either prevent Trump from using their apps or websites or enforce major restrictions on any of his content. To date Trump has been banned from 14 different websites and social media apps.
So without further ado here are what websites and apps Trump can no longer use.
Twitter banned Donald Trump on Friday 8th January over fears that he would incite more violence from his followers on the US capital.
Facebook initially locked Trump out of his account on their site on 6th January for just 24 hours but extended that ban to last for two weeks until there had been a peaceful transition of power to the Biden administration.
Instagram is owned by Facebook so the same ban applies to Trump on that app too. The ban was confirmed by the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri on 7th January.
Google were the first to raise concerns and ban the pro-Trump social media app Parler when it pulled the app from their Google Play store earlier this week for failing to moderate those spreading threats of violence. In a statement a Google spokesperson said, “In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence.”
Apple
Following Google’s lead, Apple also banned Parler from their own app store on Saturday. In a lengthy statement, an Apple spokesperson cited “Parler has not upheld its commitment to moderate and remove harmful or dangerous content encouraging violence and illegal activity, and is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.”
Amazon
Parler has also been banned from Amazon’s web hosting service after finding numerous posts that encouraged violence. In a letter from Amazon Web Services to Parler, published by NBC News, Amazon said: "Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms. It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with the AWS terms of service."
YouTube
The video website, which is owned by Google, put out a long statement on Thursday following the riots claiming that they have removed thousands of videos that spread misinformation about the election results including some shared by Trump. They added that any channel continuing to share fake information will now receive a warning.
Snapchat
Trump was banned from Snapchat following Wednesday’s riot. Speaking to Business Insider, a Snapchat spokesperson said: “We are not currently promoting the president's content on Snapchat's Discover platform. We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover. Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America.”
TikTok
Ironically Trump has spent much of the last year trying to ban TikTok because of security concerns surrounding the Chinese company. However, TikTok have turned the tables and confirmed that they will be removing any of Trump’s speeches that they consider to have instigated any violence as well as hashtags such as #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty.
Twitch
The popular streaming service, which is predominantly used by gamers, also moved quickly on Thursday to remove any threats of violence and Trump’s account. A Twitch spokesperson told Axios, “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. 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.”
On Friday, Reddit reportedly banned the subreddit 'r/DonaldTrump,’ speaking to Axios, Reddit added, “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.”
Shopify
Even Trump’s own merchandise is getting pulled. Shopify has confirmed that both the Trump organisation and the president’s official merchandise store will no longer be on their services because of their zero tolerance towards violence policy.
This might be the strangest one and the one that has generated a few jokes, but despite Trump not having a Pinterest account, the site has disabled search results for hashtags and other content associated with the promotion of conspiracy theories.
A spokersperson from Pinterest is quoted as saying, “We believe in a more inspired internet, and that means being deliberate about creating a safe and positive space for Pinners. Pinterest isn’t a place for threats, promotion of violence or hateful content. We have a longstanding strict policy against violence and misinformation, and our community guidelines prohibit false or misleading content that impedes an election’s integrity. During this election cycle, we also disabled search results for hashtags spreading violence or election misinformation, like #StopTheSteal. Our team is continuing to monitor and removing harmful content, including misinformation and conspiracy theories that may incite violence.”
A viral image from Fox News has suggested that Trump is banned from Spotify too but there have been no reports as to whether this is true.
Either way, Trump is gonna struggle to keep himself entertained on the internet now.
Amendment:
This article was amended on January 12 , 2021. It previously said that Pinterest had been banning ‘pro-Trump topics from their service since November’, but the company tells us its block is on searches for hashtags and other content associated with conspiracy theories. We also added a quote from them.
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