It only took an attack on democracy for action to be taken.
Twitter and Facebook took steps to address the spread of misinformation and the incitement of violence by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, after a mob stormed the US Capitol building on Wednesday.
Twitter removed three tweets from the account of President Donald Trump on Wednesday and suspended his account for 12 hours after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the election.
In a social media message to the aggressors he said “I love you” and called them “special” before telling them to go home. He also reiterated false claims about election fraud.
Twitter said it required the removal of three tweets for “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” and said the president’s account would remain locked for good if the tweets were not removed.
Facebook also removed the video posted by Trump where he told the mob he loved them, and has suspended Trump from posting to his account for 24 hours.
Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, also locked Trump’s account.
Facebook said: “We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
YouTube also removed the video from its platform, saying that the video violated “policies regarding content that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Twitter blocked several of Trump’s posts from being commented on or shared, citing a “risk of violence”.
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