Several Big Tech companies censored the president on social media

Facebook announced it would ban and remove photos and videos from the protest at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The social media platform claims that photos and videos from Wednesday’s events violate Facebook’s policy of “promotion of criminal activity.”

Immediately following the Capitol protest, Facebook and Instagram locked the account of President Donald Trump for 24 hours for “two policy violations.”

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube deleted videos from President Trump addressing the Capitol chaos, where he instructed his supporters to “go home,” and declared that “we have to have peace.” He also continued to press the narrative that the election was stolen from him.

Twitter released a statement on Wednesday that read, “In regard to the ongoing situation in Washington, D.C., we are working proactively to protect the health of the public conversation occurring on the service and will take action on any content that violates the Twitter rules.”

Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity, said the company deleted Trump’s video over the risk that it would increase the risk of violence.

“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” Rosen wrote on Twitter. “We removed it 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

Read more