Today, I will provide a less than comprehensive series of actions taken by various companies in the technology sector during and after the events in Washington D.C. on January 6th.
· Donald Trump posted a video that called on the rioters in the Capitol to “go home” while also still claiming that the election was stolen from him to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
· Shortly after it was posted, Twitter restricted the tweet. The tweet remained visible, but it was not able to be replied to, retweeted, or liked. Quote Tweets were still possible.
· Facebook and YouTube shortly after that removed the videos altogether
· Trump posted another tweet that stated in part “this is what happens when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots…”
· Twitter restricted that tweet in the same manor shortly after it was posted.
· Shortly after that, Twitter restricted Donald Trump’s entire account. Three tweets posted by Donald Trump that day were marked as “no longer available” by Twitter, and the company restricted Donald Trump’s ability to post to Twitter for 12 hours. Twitter also stated that if the offending tweets that violated its policies were not deleted, the account would remain restricted past the 12 hour period.
· Facebook then announced that it was placing a 24 hour ban on Donald Trump’s Facebook Page and Instagram account. The accounts would remain visible, but no new posts could be made.
· Snapchat instituted a similar 24 hour ban.
· On Thursday Morning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the ban on Donald Trump’s Facebook page and Instagram Account would be “indefinite,” lasting at least until the end of his presidency, currently scheduled for 12pm ET on January 20th.
· Shopify, a Canadian company, announced that it had terminated its services to two online stores that sold Donald Trump’s campaign merchandise.
· Twitch, an Amazon owned video streaming company, has announced that Donald Trum’s Twitch account had been suspended “indefinitely.”
· As of this writing, nearly 8 hours after the Donald Trump Twitter account’s access could have been restored if the offending tweets were deleted, those tweets remain on the account timeline, though still not able to be viewed, and thus the account is still restricted by Twitter.
This has been an extraordinary day for these technology companies that have for years attempted to walk a tight rope. Facebook had removed Donald Trump posts before, but Twitter had not. YouTube had also been very reluctant to remove content uploaded by Donald Trump. Every company stated that Donald Trump received special treatment because of his position as a world leader, with Twitter going so far as to state in policy that it would not delete or remove content or access to accounts of any world leader. This allowed Donald Trump to continue to post demonstrably false statements, over and over, with little recourse. It appears that line was finally crossed.
Companies like Facebook and Twitter deserve more than a small amount of blame for allowing this to happen. Their refusal to take action against statements that are demonstrably false, and statements meant to incite violence. Yes, there are legitimate concerns about Facebook and Twitter applying their policies evenly. And that is a conversation and debate we should have. But we should also ask how much of what happened on January 6 could have been avoided had these companies acted days, weeks, months, and years ago. The bullet point series of events above all occurred over the course of 18 hours. That is more than any of these companies had done in 4 years. All it took was an attempted coup, all but directed by Donald Trump, fueled by those platforms.
I’m glad action was taken. But it was taken too late.