YouTube suspended Trump’s channel for at least 7 days

Jim Steyer, chief executive officer of Common Sense Media, a group that monitors non-profit news media, said: The seven-day hiatus for YouTube is “an important and necessary first step” that will turn out to be. becomes permanent. “While it’s disappointing that there was a Trump-provoked attack on our Capitol to get here, it looks like all major platforms are finally starting to move forward.”

In a separate action on Wednesday, Google said it would suspend political ads on its platforms until after Inauguration Day because violence broke out last week at the Capitol.

In a letter to advertisers, the company said the move applies to any advertisements referring to the candidate, its election or its results, the upcoming presidential inauguration. , impeachment proceedings, Capitol riots or planned protests on any of these. The suspension will take effect on Thursday and run until January 21 at least.

Speaking at the Reuters Next conference on Wednesday, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive officer of Google’s parent company Alphabet, said that the company has made significant changes in the way it handles political ads and media. false news about the election surrounding the election, but admits that more work is needed. “We are constantly learning through these moments and the internet in general needs to look at the kind of information that can spread,” Pichai said. “Certainly, there’s more work to be done on our side.”

During his presidency, Mr. Trump used YouTube differently from Twitter or Facebook. His YouTube channel is mostly filled with clips from speeches and demonstrations, as well as videos of his defenders on Fox News. Videos don’t have the punch of his minute-by-minute comment on Twitter and Facebook.

YouTube’s suspension after several months extended by the company. In the weeks following the November 3 election, Mr. Trump’s channel was flooded with videos showing him and his supporters challenging the outcome. YouTube declined to process those videos even when critics urged them to do so, saying that questioning the election results was not a violation of their policies.

Last month, after most states certified their election results, YouTube said it would begin deleting videos that say falsehoods that there had been voting fraud or common voting errors. But the company said it will not penalize channels for posting such content with a suspension until January 21, after the Inauguration Day. YouTube says it has removed thousands of videos that spread false information about the 2020 election.