Last week’s storm at the US Capitol has given US President Donald Trump an uneasy time in his country, as democrats rush to impeach him. On the other hand, Trump has also been on Big Tech’s disciplinary list since the shocking event.YouTube is the latest platform to punish Mr Trump for his actions.
The Google-owned video-sharing platform has suspended his account, and thus, Trump’s team can’t upload any new content or Livestream. The suspension period will last seven days, but that is subject to change.YouTube may extend the period.
YouTube cited the incitement of violence as the reason behind the action. However, Trump’s YouTube channel remains online, but he cannot add new content — for now.
The platform had promised to punish Trump for a video that landed him in trouble on Facebook and Twitter last week. Before yesterday the platform had not taken any substantial action except removal of the purportedly inciting video posted last week.
Civil rights groups were up in arms threatening to mobilize an ad boycott against the platform hours before YouTube took action. As such, it may be considered as a move to protect the platform’s revenue.
But Google has warned closing the channel completely if it is suspended three times. According to Google, three strikes are enough to ban a YouTube channel permanently.
YouTube joins other platforms that have banned or temporarily suspended Mr Trump over the Capitol Hill storm last week.
Facebook banned him for at least two weeks; Twitter and Snapchat kicked him out, while Twitch, Shopify, Pinterest, and Reddit have restricted pro-Trump content.
Free Speech Violation?
Big Tech’s clampdown on Trump’s online presence has sparked fresh debate on the whole free speech topic. A delicate, subjective matter.
No lie, there’s typically a thin line between the right to freedom of expression and adhering to content policies on social platforms.
A tweet can breach Twitter’s content policies but again, turn the coin to the other side, and the right to freedom of expression is being suppressed. It’s an endless fierce debate.
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