Twitch announced a temporary ban for Trump’s account, removing some content that was allegedly filled with hate, including a rebroadcast of the president’s 2016 campaign kickoff announcement in Trump Tower, when he stated Mexico was sending rapists north into the United States.
With the election season heating up, and Trump’s polling numbers going down, the president has become increasingly brash and outspoken on social media platforms, including retweeting on Sunday, June 28 a video of a man who yelled "White Power!" to a protest. The retweet was later deleted.
The Trump campaign launched its Twitch page in October. The campaign used the page for broadcasting rallies and campaign events.
A second rebroadcast of Trump's infamous Tulsa rally was also removed.
At that rally, Trump said: “Hey, it’s 1:00 in the morning and a very tough, I’ve used the word on occasion, hombre, a very tough hombre is breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do.
“And you call 911 and they say, ‘I’m sorry, this number’s no longer working,’” he stated. “By the way, you have many cases like that, many, many, many. Whether it’s a young woman, an old woman, a young man, or an old man and you’re sleeping.”
“Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules,” a Twitch spokesperson stated.
The suspension for the president’s account comes a week after Twitch vowed to crack down on harassment within its streaming community after multiple complaints of harassment by streamers using the platform.
“Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed,” a Twitch spokesperson told CNBC.
Social media plaform Reddit, meanwhile, has banned a pro-Trump group called “The_Donald” for similar claims of harassment and hateful speech.
“Reddit is a place for community and belonging, not for attacking people,” Steve Huffman, the company’s chief executive, said in a call with reporters. “‘The_Donald’ has been in violation of that.
“We’ve given them many opportunities to be successful,”. Huffman said. “The message is clear that they have no intention of working with us.”
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