Trump’s Twitter account suspended; Facebook removes video citing ‘risk of ongoing violence’

Twitter has temporarily suspended the account of President Donald Trump in the wake of tweets regarding protesters breaching the U.S. capitol on Wednesday.

The company says the Presidents account will be locked for 12 hours and then reactivated pending the removal of three tweets that have been deemed inaccurate and in violation of the platforms “civic integrity policy.”

https://twitter.com/TwitterSafety/status/1346970431039934464

A video posted by the President has now been removed along with two other tweets in question. Shortly after it was posted, Twitter removed the ability to engage with the video, meaning no users could comment, retweet or like the post.

A large number of Twitter users called on the company to take down President Trump’s account in response to the unprecedented events at capitol hill.

A number of Trump’s tweets have been flagged as ‘false’ or ‘inaccurate’ in the wake of the 2020 election.

Facebook has also removed the video where the sitting U.S. president tells violent protesters who have descended on the U.S. capitol to “go home,” but refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 presidential election.

Guy Rosen, VP Integrity at Facebook, said the video was taken down because they company believes “it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”

Rosen said that Facebook is considering the issues on capitol hill and emergency situation and therefore are taking what he calls “appropriate emergency measures.”

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

Lawmakers were evacuated from the U.S. Capitol and one woman has been pronounced dead on Wednesday after protesters supporting Trump breached security, entered, and damaged the building in what has evolved into one of the most unprecedented days in the countries history.

In the video posted to the social media platforms shortly after 4 p.m, Trump told the violent crowd to leave the capitol but continued his false rhetoric of a rigged election that he actually won.

“It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side,” Trump said. “But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order.”

In his address to the nation, President-elect Biden further pressed on the current President to speak up and put an end to the violence.

“I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said.

“I call on this mob to pull back and let democracy go forward… At this hour our democracy is under assault.”