YouTube, on Tuesday, extended its ban on former US president Donald Trump from posting on the video-sharing platform. Comments on his channel will also remain disabled indefinitely.
Ivy Choi, the spokesperson of YouTube said, “In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J Trump channel will remain suspended. Our teams are staying vigilant and closely monitoring for any new developments.”
YouTube on January 12 had removed a video posted by Trump and disabled him from posting content on the platform in the wake of the attack on the US Capitol in Washington. Last week, YouTube extended the ban on Trump and had announced that it would reevaluate the situation in a week. YouTube has not mentioned how long the current extension will last.
A riot broke out on January 6 at the US Capitol when the Congress was supposed to count the electoral votes and officially declare Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the winners of the presidential election. Following the US Capitol breach, several social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, had restricted Trump’s online presence. Immediately after the riot broke, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook suspended Trump’s account for 24 hours, while Twitter suspended him for 12 hours.
On January 8, Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account. Trump’s official handle, Team Trump, has also been suspended.
Twitter launches Birdwatch
Twitter has made many attempts to deal with misinformation including the recent presidential elections by labelling tweets with wrong information. However, the attempt seemed to have no effect on Trump, leading to his recent permanent ban from the platform.
In an attempt to curb misinformation, Twitter on Monday launched Birdwatch, a community-driven initiative to flag misleading information on the platform.
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Birdwatch will be made available for a select section of the Twitter audience based on a first-come, first-served basis. Users will have to use an account tied to a real phone number and email address. Users can discuss and provide context to tweets they believe are misleading.
In a press statement, Twitter vice president Keith Coleman wrote, “Birdwatch allows people to identify information in Tweets they believe is misleading and write notes that provide informative context.” Coleman also added that the platform will soon have the notes visible directly on tweets for the global Twitter audience.