Trump’s YouTube Channel Suspended

Google-owned video service YouTube has become the latest platform to suspend President Donald Trump’s account.

YouTube has prevented the president’s account from uploading new videos or live-streaming material for a minimum of seven days, and has said it may extend the period.

It said Donald Trump’s channel had broken its rules over the incitement of violence.

The president had posted several videos on January 12, some of which remain online.

Google has not provided details of what President Trump said in the video it banned.

The move came hours after civil rights groups had threatened to organize an ads boycott against YouTube.

Jim Steyer – who previously helped coordinate similar action against Facebook last year – had called on Google to go further and take President Trump’s channel offline.

He tweeted after the suspension: “We hope they will make it permanent. It is disappointing that it took a Trump-incited attack to get here, but appears that the major platforms are finally beginning to step up.”

Google said that President Trump could still face his page being closed if he falls foul of its three-strikes policy.

It said in a statement: “After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies.

“It now has its first strike and is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a minimum of seven days.

“Given the ongoing concerns about violence, we will also be indefinitely disabling comments on President Trump’s channel, as we’ve done to other channels where there are safety concerns found in the comments section.”

President Trump had already been suspended by Facebook and Instagram following January 6 rioting on Capitol Hill, until at least the transition of power to Joe Biden on January 20.

Twitter has gone further by imposing a permanent ban on the president’s account.

Amazon’s Twitch has also disabled Donald Trump’s account on its platform. And Snapchat has locked his account.

Shopify, Pinterest, TikTok and Reddit have also taken steps to restrict content associated with the president and his calls for the results of the election to be challenged.