YouTube extends the ban on Trump's channel for an additional week
YouTube, owned by Google, announced Tuesday, on the eve of the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden, that it has extended the ban that it imposed a week ago on the outgoing President Donald Trump's channel for at least seven days.
The website said in a statement received by Agence France-Presse that "due to concerns about possible acts of violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will not be able to upload new videos or broadcast live videos for a period of at least seven additional days."
He added, "The suspension of comments under the videos posted on the channel will continue indefinitely."
On January 13, YouTube suspended the Trump channel, which is watched by 2.77 million people, and deleted a video recording of violating the site's rules that prohibit incitement to violence.
YouTube's move coincided with similar steps it took against Trump and other major social media networks, after a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in riots that left five people dead and damaged the building and shocked the United States and damaged its reputation in the world.
Facebook and Instagram temporarily suspended, and then indefinitely, the Trump accounts on the two platforms, while Twitter went further by permanently closing Trump's account and thus depriving him of more than 88 million followers on his favorite platform.
Apple, Google and Amazon also imposed a ban on the "Parler" application, popular with conservatives, by preventing it from being downloaded from their platforms.
These companies are doing their utmost to prevent their platforms from being used as a means to facilitate violent acts that are feared by extremist supporters of Trump during Biden's inauguration in Washington on Wednesday at 12 noon (17:00 GMT).
Washington, DC, in recent days, has become a bulwark with concrete barriers and barbed wire and the deployment of thousands of armed forces patrolling the city center after the violent attack on the Capitol by supporters of Trump.
