Revenge time for TikTok as it removes Trump videos after Facebook and Twitter

On the wrong side of the Donald Trump administration for a long time, Chinese video platform TikTok has removed videos of President Trumps' speech inciting supporters to mob the US Capitol, stressing these violate the misinformation policy.

"Hateful behaviour and violence have no place on TikTok. Content or accounts that seek to incite, glorify, or promote violence violate our Community Guidelines and will be removed," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

According to a report in TechCrunch, TikTok will still let people post "counter speech" videos that dispute incorrect claims. The Chinese company said it was also blocking hashtags related to the riots – #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty.

TikTok has joined other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter in restricting Trump messages after the chaos in Capitol Hill. Facebook had announced on Thursday that the restrictions on Trump's account will continue till the end of his term on January 20. Twitter too had temporarily blocked Trump from posting messages further after the violence in Washington DC.

Facebook, which had removed a video in which US President Donald Trump urged his supporters, who forced their way into the Capitol, "to go home" but repeated his allegations of fraud in the presidential elections, and blocked his account, announced on Thursday that the restrictions will continue till the end of his term on January 20.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post: "We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete."

In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Twitter had said that Trump's personal Twitter account will be locked for 12 hours as he violated the platform's violent threats policies. "Future violations of the Twitter rules, including our Civic Integrity or Violent Threats policies, will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account," Twitter Safety said in a statement, according to Xinhua. Several of the President's tweets had been labelled "disputed" due to the fraud claims.

The Hill news website said that Trump's video, was shared about 49,000 times within 30 minutes. Facebook did not initially remove it and instead put a label about "accurate election info".

Guy Rosen, Facebook's Vice President of Integrity, said in a statement: "This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of the ongoing violence."

Google-owned YouTube also removed the video, saying that it violated the video-sharing platform's policies regarding content that alleges widespread election fraud.

Four people, including a woman, were killed inside the Capitol after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the building to disrupt the joint sitting of the Congress. The members had convened to ratify the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as Vice President. Trump's supporters entered the building after hearing this speech, referring to allegations of election fraud and created mayhem, which disrupted the session and caused evacuation of the members. The Congress, however, convened later to ratify Biden and Harris's election victories..