YouTube Takes Down New Trump Video, Bans All Uploads From His Channel For 7 Days - Forbes

Topline

YouTube has taken down a new video uploaded on President Donald Trump’s channel for violating the platform’s policies on inciting violence and has banned the channel from posting any new content for the next seven days, the company announced late on Tuesday night, adding to the growing list of social platforms that have shut down or curbed the outgoing president’s online presence due to concerns of potential violence.

Key Facts

In a statement shared with Forbes, YouTube said that it had taken down the video after “careful review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence.”

Due to the takedown, Trump’s channel was also handed out a disciplinary “strike” by YouTube, which bans the channel from posting any new content for seven days.

The Google-owned platform has also indefinitely disabled comments for all videos uploaded on the president’s channel due to safety concerns, YouTube’s statement added.

The company has not disclosed what video it has taken down, but Trump’s channel made several uploads on Tuesday mostly focussed on his visit to Texas where he addressed a public rally.

YouTube had taken down Trump’s address to his supporters after the violence at the Capitol last week, but the takedown did not come with a “first strike” since it took place during the platform’s election grace period.

Key Background

Trump has faced severe backlash for his role in inflaming a mob of his supporters with false claims of election fraud, which led to an attack on the Capitol last week. To diminish the risk of further violence, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter first took down a video uploaded by Trump during the Capitol riots where he continued to spew misinformation about the election and told the rioters “we love you, you’re very special.” Hours after that both Facebook and Twitter took down Trump’s accounts. While Twitter permanently banned the president’s account along with those of his campaign, Facebook and Instagram issued an indefinite ban against him. Other platforms like Amazon-owned live streaming service Twitch and Snapchat have also disabled Trump’s account due to concerns over potential violence. The Trump campaign’s funding and e-commerce operations have also been hit after being cut off by payments processor Stripe and e-commerce platform Shopify for breaching the platforms’ policies on encouraging violence.