Over the past week, many of the world’s largest tech companies and social media platforms have banned Donald Trump’s personal accounts and posts related to pro-Trump violence and #stopthesteal. Twitter had first issued a warning to Trump, and they have since released an official statement: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” They stated that two of his tweets were in violation of their Glorification of Violence policy, and that just because it is the president’s account, it does not exist above their terms of service agreement. Since this action, many other platforms have followed suit, showing their support for a peaceful transfer of power.

Listed below is a list of social media platforms, what they have done, and their statement on why.

• Reddit
  • Reddit has removed the thread “r/DonaldTrump,” with their comment being, “Reddit’s site-wide policies prohibit content that promotes hate, or encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence against groups of people or individuals. In accordance with this, we have been proactively reaching out to moderators to remind them of our policies and to offer support or resources as needed.”

• Twitch

• • Twitch has disabled Trump’s Twitch account, saying, “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. Given the current extraordinary circumstances 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.” 

• Google 
  • Google has removed the far-right social media site Parler, saying, “In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence.”

• YouTube
  • YouTube is increasing their regulation on election misinformation and voter fraud claims, stating, “Due to the extraordinary events that transpired yesterday, and given that the election results have been certified, any channel posting new videos with these false claims in violation of our policies will now receive a strike, a penalty which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube.” 

• Facebook and Instagram
  • Facebook and Instagram have banned Trump from posting for the next two weeks until the inauguration of Joe Biden, stating, “The risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”

• Snapchat
  • Snapchat has indefinitely suspended the president’s Snapchat account, but they have made no statement.

• TikTok
  • TikTok is removing content related to the hashtags #stormthecapital and #patriotparty. Their statement reads: “Hateful behavior and violence have no place on TikTok. Content or accounts that seek to incite, glorify, or promote violence violate our Community Guidelines and will be removed.”