Over the last 24 hours, some of the major social media platforms have suspended accounts belonging to US President Donald Trump. Twitter was the first to make such a move after the violent events that unfolded in Washington DC, citing "repeated and severe violations" of its civic integrity policy.
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
Following this development, Trump was also suspended from posting on Facebook and Instagram for a duration lasting at least until Joe Biden takes office, while a number of shops hosted by the Trump organization and campaign were disabled on Shopify's e-commerce platform.
Now, Amazon-owned Twitch has today added its name to the growing list. In a statement to Polygon, the platform confirmed the measure against the US president, saying that:
"In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. Given the current extraordinary circumstance and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence."
The move comes almost six months after Trump's previous ban from Twitch for what the company cited as "hateful conduct" while the disputed content was also removed from online access.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether other platforms will take a similar stance against the US president in the dwindling days of his administration and if any actions will remain in place after this departure.
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