YouTube bans Trump for another week over fears of inauguration violence

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

YouTube has banned Donald Trump for another week, citing fears that he could use the cite to encourage violence on Inauguration Day.

The company already banned Mr Trump on 12 January, saying that he would not be allowed to post on the site for a week. It said the account had violated its policy against inciting violence after the violence in Washington, DC.

But it has now made clear that he will be banned for another week, taking him beyond the end of his presidency.

On Tuesday, YouTube said it was extending the suspension "in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence."

Trump is scheduled to vacate the White House on Wednesday as President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

In a video uploaded earlier on Tuesday to the White House's YouTube channel, Trump decried the "shutting down" of debate.

"In America we don't insist on absolute conformity or enforce rigid orthodoxies and punitive speech codes, we just don't do that," he said.

As Trump used social media to falsely challenge the results of the Nov. 3 election, his supporters followed with violent rhetoric on the services and planned openly for the Jan. 6 gatherings, according to researchers and public postings, prompting criticism of the companies for failing to take action in advance.

Activists have threatened to organize a boycott of YouTube advertising if it does not ban Trump permanently, as Twitter Inc has done. Facebook has blocked his accounts indefinitely.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai told Reuters last week that YouTube is treating Trump the same as any other user and will not terminate his account unless he violates the service's policies three times in 90 days.

Additional reporting by Reuters