Twitter, YouTube Must Follow Suit and Permanently Ban Trump

Washington, DC — Today, Twitter announced a permanent suspension for Donald Trump’s account. Muslim Advocates is a member of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Committee and has been calling on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, in partnership with our colleagues at the Change the Terms coalition, to permanently ban Trump’s accounts following the deadly, white nationalist violence at the U.S. Capitol. The following is a statement from Muslim Advocates Media Relations Officer Eric Naing:

“As a member of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Committee, Muslim Advocates applauds this desperately needed move. By permanently banning Trump’s account, Twitter is showing real leadership and is taking a significant step towards shutting off a major source of online hate and disinformation—as well as helping to prevent further white nationalist violence. The company’s move to remove QAnon accounts is also welcome and needed to protect the public. As Twitter notes, letting Trump continue to post tweets, Facebook posts and YouTube videos for his white nationalist supporters risks ‘further incitement of violence.’ Now it is up to Facebook and Google/YouTube to follow Twitter’s lead.

Trump will continue being Trump. His social media accounts will still be the world’s most prominent organizing tools for violent white nationalists—as they have been for years. The only way to prevent more violence is to permanently ban his accounts. Not doing so puts the public in danger. Now Facebook and Google/YouTube must act. It is long past time for these companies to take the steps necessary to address pervasive hate and disinformation on their platforms.”

Muslim Advocates is a member of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Committee, the Change the Terms Steering Committee and the Real Facebook Oversight Board. 

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Muslim Advocates is a national civil rights organization working in the courts, in the halls of power and in communities to halt bigotry in its tracks. We ensure that American Muslims have a seat at the table with expert representation so that all Americans may live free from hate and discrimination.