Twitter as well as other social media companies have taken steps to essentially scrub the net of some pretty prominent accounts and platforms in the wake of the neo-fascist insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.
The most prominent account given the lifetime ban was undoubtedly Donald Trump who lost his Twitter account and roughly 88.7 million followers Friday stating that “after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Twitter also took steps to prevent Trump from trying to circumvent the ban.
The social media company limited the @POTUS government account after it was apparent Trump tried to post a message using that handle.
The Team Trump campaign Twitter account was also suspended after they attempted to post the same message from the President.
And finally, Twitter also took action against the digital director for the Trump 2020 campaign Gary Coby after he tried to hand his account over to White House social media director Dan Scavino for Trump to use as his own. Coby even went as far as to change the name of the account to “Donald J. Trump” and switch the profile picture to that of what the President had on his now banned personal account.
Beyond Twitter though, Facebook and Instagram continued to suspend Donald Trump’s accounts on their platforms until at least the inauguration on January 20, however, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that Trump’s suspension could go beyond that date. Snapchat also suspended Trump’s account on their platform.
Aside from Trump, Twitter also took steps to take down and ban other high profile MAGA and QAnon conspiracy accounts in the wake of the far-right insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump lawyer who promised to “release the Kraken” Sidney Powell had her account banned by the platform as well as former national security advisor and QAnon cultist Michael Flynn.
“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
Twitter also removed the account of lawyer and utter nut bag Lin Wood Friday as well as the account of Ron Watkins, the administrator of the 8kun message board where many of the conspiracy theory messages are posted.
Apple threatens to ban Parler from the App Store
After the purge of MAGA and QAnon accounts undertaken by Twitter, Apple announced that they have given Parler — the popular social media platform of the far-right a 24-hour ultimatum to “implement a full moderation plan of its platform” or be banned from the App Store.
In an email sent this morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, Apple wrote to Parler’s executives that there had been complaints that the service had been used to plan and coordinate the storming of the US Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters on Wednesday. The insurrection left five people dead, including a police officer.
“We have received numerous complaints regarding objectionable content in your Parler service, accusations that the Parler app was used to plan, coordinate, and facilitate the illegal activities in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 that led (among other things) to loss of life, numerous injuries, and the destruction of property,” Apple wrote to Parler. “The app also appears to continue to be used to plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.”
BuzzFeed News
Google took things a step further and suspended Parler from the Google Play store until the social media company develops content moderation policies.
“In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content have moderation policies and enforcement that removes egregious content like posts that incite violence,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
“All developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in recent months. We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.”
Google said the app will be suspended until it resolves the issues that violate Google’s policies, including allowing users to post threats to elected officials and plans to organize Wednesday’s march that ended with the deadly incursion into the Capitol.
NBC News
The Verge has also reported that Discord has taken down the server “The Donald” which was linked to a banned subreddit r/The_Donald and TheDonald.win.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy against hate and violence of any kind on the platform, or the use of Discord to support or organize around violent extremism,” Discord said in a statement shared with The Verge. “While there is no evidence of a server called The Donald being used to organize the Jan 6 riots, Discord decided to ban the entire server today due to its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence, plan an armed insurrection in the United States, and spread harmful misinformation related to 2020 U.S. election fraud.”
The Verge
For right-wing chuds, private property is great, until it isn’t
I think there’s a very fine line the left needs to walk when it comes to these bans. If Jack and Mark Zuckerberg can pull the plug on Donald Trump’s social media accounts in a moment’s instant then there’s certainly no reason to believe that we could eventually see an outright ban on leftist accounts speaking out against capitalist hegemony. This is also much different than anti-fascists engaging neo-fascists on community streets. In those situations, the anti-fascists have the ability to directly engage fascists trying to infiltrate and spread their influence within their community. In essence, the community retains control of its own streets.
When it comes to the social media purge though of fascist accounts associated with MAGA and QAnon, what’s incredibly ironic is the individuals behind these pages are victims of a system they advocate for. To them, the very essence of private property is great, until it isn’t. Not that they actually know the difference between private property and personal property, to them it’s all the same but I digress. But what we’ve seen happen within the past 24 to 48 hours with MAGA Twitter and social media is far-right chuds getting a lesson based on capitalism and actual private property.