Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, stated that the suspension of accounts belonging to former President Donald Trump and his supporters on social media represents a surge of frantic censorship and digital tyranny.
In an article published on the TASS website today, Medvedev mentioned that social media waged an unregulated information war against the current American president, asserting that even if Trump completely withdrew from political life and all digital traces of him were erased, the division in the minds of Americans would persist. He added that what happened in the old American electoral system unveiled the unprecedented role of social networks and new media, as well as their influence on public policy and their connections to private information technology companies that own these networks.
Both Germany and France criticized social media platforms Facebook and Twitter for shutting down the accounts of the outgoing American president Donald Trump, just two days after his supporters stormed the Capitol.
It is worth noting that Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat temporarily closed Donald Trump's accounts on Wednesday, January 6, hastening to curb his claims regarding the presidential election amidst riots in Washington, D.C. They considered that Trump's actions and those of his allies over the past months, amplifying claims of election fraud, led to the organization of the protest and the storming of the Capitol.
In a similar vein, YouTube prohibited Trump’s account from uploading videos for violating the site’s policies, stating in a release that the ban would last for a week starting from the evening of Tuesday, January 12, with the possibility of extension.
YouTube stated in its announcement, "In light of concerns about the potential for ongoing violence, we removed the new content uploaded to Donald Trump’s channel and issued a warning for violating our policies regarding incitement to violence." Furthermore, YouTube disabled comments on Trump’s channel, which has over two million subscribers.
Notably, Trump's Twitter account had approximately 90 million followers and was the president's preferred platform throughout his administration for announcing his positions and dismissing many government officials.
