Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has suspended U.S. President Donald Trump’s account and issued the White House a warning on YouTube, which is the world’s largest video platform. It’s the latest in a string of moves by social-media-related companies to sanction the outgoing U.S. chief executive, after he exhorted his supporters to riot on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.
The Google-owned company said Tuesday night that Trump uploaded content that violated its policies, giving it an automatic one-strike, which leads to a minimum seven-day suspension from uploading new content. It said it is also disabling the comments section.
The company did not specify which videos violated its policies but said that it was "content" that included comments Trump made at a press conference Tuesday morning. YouTube said it violated policies that prohibit content for inciting violence.
Donald J. Trump’s YouTube account has 2.77 million subscribers and it typically posts several videos a day from himself and from right-wing media stations.
Under YouTube’s three-strike system, a channel will be suspended for one week after the first strike, two after the second and terminated after a third strike within 90 days. The temporary suspension means Trump’s account and existing videos will remain accessible but he won’t be able to upload new content.
A company spokesperson said it also removed videos from the White House’s YouTube account but that, instead of a first strike, the company issued a warning because "There has not been the same history of violative content on this channel, but should further violative content get uploaded to the channel, it would receive a strike, per our policies."
GOOGL shares plummeted $4.35 to $1,733.08.
