YouTube Suspends President Trump's Account -- Update
January 13 2021 - 11:01AM
Dow Jones News
By Georgia Wells
YouTube suspended President Trump's channel on Tuesday night,
joining a growing list of tech companies that are ejecting him from
their platforms.
The Alphabet Inc. video-sharing service said it was locking Mr.
Trump's channel for at least seven days after the company removed
videos that it said violated its policies against content it
believes could incite violence.
YouTube's move follows similar decisions from Facebook Inc. and
Twitter Inc. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Mr. Trump's account
indefinitely and on Friday, Twitter locked Mr. Trump's personal
account.
Alphabet's Google said Wednesday it would pause political ads on
its sites. Google attributed the decision to the events of the past
week, and said it would also block any ads referencing the
impeachment, the inauguration or protests at the U.S. Capitol.
Google said the new ban starts Thursday.
Facebook earlier this week said it was extending a pause on U.S.
political and election ads on its platforms. Twitter banned
political ads on its platform in 2019.
While the social-media companies took action based on different
pieces of content, the posts and videos appeared to reiterate
unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen and expressed
support for the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol last
week.
Some users have praised the companies' decisions as necessary to
stop future violence. Others characterized the actions as
infringing on free speech. Either way, the moderation decisions
demonstrate the power a few Silicon Valley tech companies wield
over online discourse.
"A minimum of seven days is an important and necessary first
step by YouTube and we hope they will make it permanent," said Jim
Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is a
nonprofit that gives parents advice for navigating the digital
world.
YouTube said Mr. Trump's account would remain locked from
uploading new videos or posting live streams for a minimum of seven
days, in accordance with its "three-strikes" policy. YouTube
suspends channels that it gives one strike for about a week;
channels that YouTube assigns two strikes within 90 days are
suspended for about two weeks; YouTube terminates channels that it
assigns three strikes within 90 days.
YouTube said it was indefinitely disabling comments on the
videos in Mr. Trump's channel. It also said it had previously
removed videos from Mr. Trump's channel for violating its
policies.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 13, 2021 11:46 ET (16:46 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024