Facebook, Twitter and YouTube took action on President Donald Trump’s posts Wednesday in the wake of riots at the US Capitol from his supporters, but the platforms stopped short of suspending the President’s accounts despite growing pressure from advocacy groups and prominent figures.
Facebook and YouTube each removed President Donald Trump’s video from earlier in the afternoon addressing his supporters, according to company spokesmen. In the video, Trump had urged Capitol rioters to “go home” but struck a sympathetic tone and reiterated his debunked claims of election fraud.
“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” Guy Rosen, Facebook’s VP of integrity, said in a tweet. “We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
Twitter did not remove the video. But as of Wednesday afternoon, the social network did move to restrict engagement with tweets by Trump and others that have been labeled “due to a risk of violence.”
Likes and replies have been disabled on Trump’s tweet that claimed Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.” Retweets of the tweet have been restricted, prompting users to add a comment rather than simply amplifying Trump’s remarks.
Those same restrictions were also applied to the video to Trump’s supporters.
“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,” Twitter said.
“Threats of and calls to violence are against the Twitter Rules, and we are enforcing our policies accordingly. In addition, we have been significantly restricting engagement with Tweets labeled under our Civic Integrity Policy due to the risk of violence. This means these labeled Tweets will not be able to be replied to, Retweeted, or liked.”
