Twitch Suspends Donald Trump’s Account Indefinitely

Protesters gather on the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Pro-
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Twitch has locked President Donald Trump’s account indefinitely following the riots that took place on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.

“In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel,” a Twitch spokesperson said in a statement, according to the Verge.

“Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence,” the statement continued.

The company added that it would reassess Trump’s account after his term as president ends on January 20.

Although Trump is not able to access his account, the account remains live so his profile and archived videos still remain available.

But Trump will not be able to stream from his account while his account is disabled.

This is not the first time Twitch has suspended Trump’s account. In June, Twitch suspended Trump’s account for two weeks for “hateful conduct” that broadcasted over his stream.

Twitch is also not the only social network to suspend or ban Trump from accessing social media in light of the events at the Capitol on Wednesday.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg blacklisted Trump “indefinitely” from posting on Facebook and Instagram on Thursday.

Zuckerberg said in a statement, in part:

Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.

Twitter also suspended the president’s account for 12 hours and took down a video where he told his supporters that the election was stolen from him and told the protesters on Capitol Hill to peacefully “go home.”

“I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now,” the president said in the now-deleted video.

“We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt,” he added.

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