Facebook blocks Trump for remainder of term while Twitter sets permanent ban

July 28, 2021 keywordana

Numerous advertisers have paused their social media campaigns over the events at the Capitol.

Last Wednesday, America went through surreal times when a large group of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol after the President posted numerous social media posts on Twitter and Facebook inciting action from those supporters.

Facebook has blocked President Donald Trump from posting on its platform for the remainder of his term as President of the United States. Twitter initially set a 12-hour temporary action of blocking Trump from posting on its platform with a warning that the company may permanently disable his account. On Friday, they updated their statement to ban Trump’s account permanently.

The announcements. Here is Twitter’s post about the temporary ban and warning of future action:

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 (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

They updated their statement Friday to ban Trump permanently.

After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021

Facebook initially put a 24-hour ban in for Trump but then later decided to block Trump through his term. Here is the statement from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook.

We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks. pic.twitter.com/JkyGOTYB1Z

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021

We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021

Advertisers pausing accounts. Some advertisers are reportedly pausing their advertising campaigns with Facebook and Twitter during these times. Jonathan Kagan, VP of Search, Cogniscient Media|9Rooftops, told us, “We advised our clients that there was so much coverage of the situation, running into a brand safety scenario, or coming off as tone deaf/insensitive to the situation in DC would be inevitable. To avoid possible brand association, we recommend they temporarily cease paid social ads.”

Lisa Barone from Overit said that most brands should pause their campaigns. She wrote on Twitter:

Most brands should pause.

People are suffering. They’re scared. If you can’t be helpful or useful in a situation, say nothing. That’s true here, IMO.

Show a bit of empathy and awareness and let that 5 Things blog post sit for a couple days.

— Lisa Barone (@LisaBarone) January 7, 2021

While another digital marketer named Joe Youngblood said they did the opposite and promoted positive non-political content on the networks.

We did the opposite and promoted positive non-political content across various brands.

— Joe Youngblood (@YoungbloodJoe) January 7, 2021

Updates. Here are some of the other platforms that have removed Trump or made changes to their policies around Trump:

Twitter updated its policy and permanently banned Trump from the platform
Reddit banned subreddit group “r/DonaldTrump”
Twitch disabled Trump’s channel
Shopify took down his two online affiliate stores
Instagram banned Trump from posting
Snapchat disabled Trump’s account
TikTok is removing content related to #stormthecapitol and #patriotparty
Apple and Google removed the Parler app from the App Stores
Pinterest has been limiting hashtags related to pro-Trump topics such as #StopTheSteal
Stripe will no longer process payments from Trump’s campaigns
YouTube announced on January 12 that it has also suspended Trump’s channel “for a minimum of seven days, which may be extended,” according to a company statement

Why we care. When advertising on these social networks, it is important to ensure your brand does not get tied up in the negative association with current events. We have seen the short-term impact current events can have on brands as they navigate the choppy waters on social media during a national crisis. We spoke with social media managers and brand safety experts across the nation about whether or not to pause your paid and organic social media campaigns in the midst of a hectic political climate:

Numerous advertisers have paused their social media campaigns over the events at the Capitol.

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