Trump’s YouTube Suspension Extended in Light of Biden Inauguration

YouTube on Tuesday, 12 January, evening suspended the outgoing US president’s channel after it received a strike under the platform’s policies.

(Photo: PTI)

YouTube extended its ban on outgoing US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, 19 January, after suspending his account for a week when it received a strike under the platform’s policies.

The Google-owned company was supposed to lift the ban a day before Biden’s inauguration, which is scheduled for Wednesday.

Speaking to AFP, YouTube said, “In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J Trump channel will be prevented from uploading new videos or live streams for an additional minimum of seven days.”

The suspension means that Trump’s channel cannot upload new videos or live streams. Comments will also be “indefinitely disabled” for Trump’s account.

Background

Joining the list of companies taking action against US President Donald Trump’s social media accounts, YouTube on Tuesday, 12 January, evening suspended the outgoing US president’s channel for a week after the recent “policy breach”.

At the time, YouTube had removed a video of Trump addressing a mob attack on the Capitol on 7 January, because the President repeated false information about the outcome of the 2020 elections.

This development comes after a group of Trump supporters, whom he refers to as ‘patriots’, barged into the US Capitol and wreaked havoc on 6 January.

Trump's YouTube channel has 2.68 million subscribers. Following the violence that erupted at the US Capitol after his supporters stormed the building, YouTube has removed most of his videos from the rally he addressed earlier in the day.

Similar Actions From Twitter & Facebook

Trump’s Twitter account was permanently suspended by the tech giant on Friday, 8 January, citing “risk of further incitement of violence”.

Twitter wrote in a blog post, “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

A day prior to that, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that after the US Capitol siege by supporters of Trump, the social media giant would be extending the block placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for “at least next two weeks".

Zuckerberg cited the use of the platform “to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government" as the reason for the extended ban.

(With inputs from AFP.)