Donald Trump is not at the end of his sentences. YouTube announced this Wednesday, January 13, 2021 that it would block the outgoing president’s channel for at least seven days. As a result of this decision: the posting of a video that violates the platform’s guidelines on incitement to violence.
YouTube is responding to videos posted by the outgoing president
New day, new ban for Donald Trump. After posting a video on YouTube, Google’s own video platform decided not only to remove the video, but also to block the president’s channel for at least seven days. As a reminder, it has no fewer than 2.8 million subscribers.
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For sure his Twitter accountYouTube explains: “Given concerns about the current risk of violence, we have removed new content posted on Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our guidelines. she [la chaîne de Trump, NDLR] now has its first warning and is temporarily banned from posting new content for * at least * days. “. The platform also announced that it has blocked comments on all of the outgoing president’s other videos.
1 / Following reviews and given concerns about the continuing potential for violence, we have removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our guidelines. It’s now taking its first hit and will be temporarily prevented from uploading new content for at least * 7 days *.
– YouTubeInsider (@YouTubeInsider) January 13, 2021
Donald Trump deprived of social networks
After the Capitol is captured, social networks are on high alert. All closely monitor the content posted by Donald Trump and Do not hesitate any longer to impose sanctions if you feel it is necessary. So Snapchat decided to apply “Permanent restrictive measures” on the president’s account on January 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Twitter waited a few days to finally delete Donald Trump’s account. Instagram and Facebook, for their part, have imposed an indefinite ban.
Twitch also advocated a temporary ban when Reddit removed the r / donaldtrump subreddit. Eventually, Shopify has also decided to close the outgoing US president’s two official stores once and for all.
If all platforms justify their decisions by violating their policies against incitement to hatred and violence, this general exposure raises fundamental questions about the powers of social networks: Do they really have the right to decide whether an elected president has the right to speak or not? Now and in practice, nothing prevents it from doing so. On the other hand, this historic episode opened the debate with many factions and we can imagine that in the future a legal framework could be created to further regulate the power of social networks in such situations.