META Meta Platforms Inc

By Georgia Wells 

YouTube suspended President Trump's channel on Tuesday night, joining a growing list of tech companies that are ejecting him from their platforms.

The Alphabet Inc. video-sharing service said it was locking Mr. Trump's channel for at least seven days after the company removed videos that it said violated its policies against content it believes could incite violence.

YouTube's move follows similar decisions from Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Mr. Trump's account indefinitely and on Friday, Twitter locked Mr. Trump's personal account.

Alphabet's Google said Wednesday it would pause political ads on its sites. Google attributed the decision to the events of the past week, and said it would also block any ads referencing the impeachment, the inauguration or protests at the U.S. Capitol. Google said the new ban starts Thursday.

Facebook earlier this week said it was extending a pause on U.S. political and election ads on its platforms. Twitter banned political ads on its platform in 2019.

While the social-media companies took action based on different pieces of content, the posts and videos appeared to reiterate unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen and expressed support for the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol last week.

Some users have praised the companies' decisions as necessary to stop future violence. Others characterized the actions as infringing on free speech. Either way, the moderation decisions demonstrate the power a few Silicon Valley tech companies wield over online discourse.

"A minimum of seven days is an important and necessary first step by YouTube and we hope they will make it permanent," said Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is a nonprofit that gives parents advice for navigating the digital world.

YouTube said Mr. Trump's account would remain locked from uploading new videos or posting live streams for a minimum of seven days, in accordance with its "three-strikes" policy. YouTube suspends channels that it gives one strike for about a week; channels that YouTube assigns two strikes within 90 days are suspended for about two weeks; YouTube terminates channels that it assigns three strikes within 90 days.

YouTube said it was indefinitely disabling comments on the videos in Mr. Trump's channel. It also said it had previously removed videos from Mr. Trump's channel for violating its policies.

Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2021 11:46 ET (16:46 GMT)

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