Why are the social media firms banning Trump?

Summary

• Trump’s Twitter account was permanently banned on 8 January, after he was warned through a temporary suspension earlier for violating company policy
• Later, other social media websites including Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit also banned his accounts

Social media platforms are banning outgoing US President Donald Trump after he faced a lot of backlash after the violent protest at the US Capitol by Trump supporters. Twitter was first to permanently ban his account on Friday, followed by Facebook blocking him a day later.

In a span of a few days, many social media platforms have taken strict action to ban or block the personal accounts of Trump and online communities devoted to him. The social media giants have said that Trump’s posts contained prohibited contents inciting violence among Trump supporters, which defied their company rules and policies.

The step was taken after a group of Trump supporters stormed into the US Capitol on 7 January and tried disrupting Electoral College Debate at the Senate chamber where election results were being certified. It was revealed that Trump’s tweets and posts on his various handles instigated his followers to take such a step. Trump and his followers have been claiming that the 3 November elections were rigged and Joe Bidden was elected by fault. 

Trump’s twitter handle had 88 million followers, later Facebook and Instagram also blocked his accounts at least until Inauguration Day on 20 January. Snapchat and Twitch also followed the same.

These social media giants were joined by companies like Google, which also took steps to boot Parler, a social media app and website that has gained popularity among conservatives. If sources were to be believed, this app was also used by some rioters to promote the attack at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, 6 January.

Besides, Snapchat blocked Trump’s account fearing he might use the photo-sharing platform to share objectionable content. Similarly, YouTube had removed a video, which it claimed violated its policies. Even Reddit did banned Trump’s account.

Violence and posts

Trump posted a series of posts and videos where he asked his supporters to fight against the counting of the electoral votes. This triggered the riots at the US Capitol.

At first, Twitter had closed comments on Trump’s tweets and disabled the like and retweet options. Later, it removed his posts and suspended his account for 12 hours. The company had also warned him that if he further violated any of the rules, it would permanently suspend his Twitter account.

Related Read: US Capitol Riots: Facebook and Twitter block Trump’s Accounts

After reviewing Trump’s account in the context of the riot, Twitter said that it was concerned that the two of his tweets could incite violence.

The tweets read:

The company rationalised its move in a blog post, saying the two messages violated its policy against glorification of violence and could inspire others to replicate violent acts that took place at the U.S. Capitol on 6 January.

Twitter said that Trump’s second tweet might be read by his followers as an encouragement for violence at the inauguration.

After being banned from Twitter, Trump tried getting back by posting four messages from the @POTUS account, which were quickly brought down too. In those posts, Trump had accused Twitter of banning free speech.

He also mentioned that he would be making his social media presence yet again through an undisclosed platform.

Twitter had also suspended @TeamTrump, an account that was associated with the Trump campaign on Friday, after it shared a portion of Trump's statement violating the company's action.

What’s next?

After banning Trump’s accounts, regulators will scrutinize the companies' actions even more than before as many want to pursue antitrust cases against the tech giants. This especially stands true with Congress and the Biden administration looking to revamp the 25-year-old legislation known as Section 230.

Section 230 has long provided a liability shield for the platforms' decisions over content regulation.