Snapchat permanently banned President Trump from its platform on Wednesday, citing the potential harm to public safety.
The social media company announced an indefinite suspension of Mr. Trump’s account last week but decided to wall him off from its platform entirely on Wednesday.
“In the interest of public safety, and based on his attempts to spread misinformation, hate speech, and incite violence, which are clear violations of our guidelines, we have made the decision to permanently terminate his account,” said a Snapchat spokesperson in a statement.
Snapchat’s decision to permanently ban Mr. Trump follows in the footsteps of several other prominent social media platforms.
Twitter has also enacted a permanent suspension, while Facebook and Instagram have implemented indefinite suspensions. YouTube, which is owned by Google, also implemented an indefinite ban that would likely run through at least Inauguration Day next week.
Snapchat’s decision to join the deplatforming efforts to restrict Mr. Trump’s online speech does not come as a surprise.
In June 2020, Snapchat removed the president from its Discover feature while maintaining his account. The Discover feature allowed Snapchat users to readily find content from other elected officials and newsmakers in the run-up to the November election.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.