Facebook, Twitter remove Trump’s video citing risks of violence
WASHINGTON — Facebook and Twitter have removed a video from President Donald Trump, citing the risk of violence during the demonstrations in Washington D.C.
In the video, Trump tells people it’s time to go home, calls for peace, law and order, and for people to respect law enforcement officers. He also falsely claims a “landslide” election was stolen from him.
Guy Rosen, the vice president of integrity at Facebook, said in a tweet the social media site was removing the video because “on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
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
A Facebook company spokesperson also released the following statement:
The violent protests in the Capitol today are a disgrace. We prohibit incitement and calls for violence on our platform. We are actively reviewing and removing any content that breaks these rules.
On Wednesday evening, Facebook says Trump will lose the ability to post for 24 hours after violating two policies.
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
Twitter attached a label on the video saying his claims of election fraud have been disputed and disabled the ability for people to reply to, retweet, or like the tweet “due to a risk of violence.” The tweet was later removed by Twitter because it “violated the Twitter rules.”
MORE INFO |Trump’s Twitter account locked, social media platforms hide Trump video amid violent protests
Twitter posted more information on its decision in the thread below.
As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy. https://t.co/k6OkjNG3bM
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021
MORE INFO |Live updates on the demonstrations in Washington|WATCH: ABC News Special Report on U.S. Capitol demonstrators|Current, former federal lawmakers from Indiana react to demonstrators breaching Capitol
