Facebook, Twitter, YouTube remove Trump video on Capitol riots

Twitter said Wednesday it had locked the account of President Donald Trump for 12 hours following a series of disputed tweets posted by the president in the wake of the demonstrations at the Capitol.

“In regard to the ongoing situation in Washington, D.C., we are working proactively to protect the health of the public conversation occurring on the service and will take action on any content that violates the Twitter Rules,” the tech company announced.

Before Twitter locked Trump’s account, the platform along with YouTube and Facebook removed President Trump’s video regarding the riots that led to a Capitol lockdown.

In the video, Trump urged his supporters who forced their way into the Capitol to go home, but he also repeated false claims that his election was “fraudulent,” which was the reason why his supporters protested in the first place.

Initially, Facebook and Twitter had labeled Trump’s post but not removed it entirely, but within a few hours all three platforms had taken it down along with Facebook and Twitter removing a similar text post from the president that followed his video.

Facebook said the post was removed because it risked inciting more violence. Twitter similarly said the post was restricted due to a risk of violence.

YouTube said it removed the post based on violating the platform’s policies regarding content that alleges widespread election fraud.