Last updated on January 14th, 2021 at 03:37 am
Social media has played an outsized role in the rise of Donald Trump. The president was an early adopter of Twitter and has millions of followers on the platform.
Facebook, of course, let fake information and news stories run rampant on its site during the 2016 election, helping to propel Trump to victory over Hilary Clinton.
For the first 3 years of Trump’s presidency, both sites continued to let Trump flout their rules and regulations while going unchecked. Twitter finally stood up in 2020 and began to mark Trump’s false tweets with a disclaimer. Facebook has been slow to do the same.
But on Wednesday, with Trump’s seditionists storming America’s capital, Mark Zuckerberg‘s company finally decided to take action.
After hours of silence, Donald Trump posted a video urging his supporters to go home. At the same time, Trump continued to make false claims about winning the election in a landslide.
Twitter immediately flagged the video and disabled liking, sharing or retweeting the message. Facebook has pulled it down entirely.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1346928882595885058
Guy Rosen, the company’s Vice President of Integrity explained, “This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.
— Guy Rosen (@guyro) January 6, 2021
The White House has yet to respond to the actions of the two social media giants.
- Florida ICU Director: We’re Tired of Seeing People Die Because They Refused to Take the Vaccine - Sun, Aug 29th, 2021
- OAN Host Christina Bobb: If You Are an American in Afghanistan, Ignore Terror Warnings and Go to The Airport - Sun, Aug 29th, 2021
- WATCH: Chris Wallace Slams McConnell Over His Desire for Full Scale War in Afghanistan - Sun, Aug 29th, 2021
