If you read the headline Donald Trump banned from Tw– and assumed the letters -itter would follow, this report may come as a disappointment.
However, word that the President of the United States has been temporarily banned from the gaming-centric streaming platform Twitch is still rather big news isn’t it?
The Amazon-owned service has suspended Trump’s account for violating rules on “hateful conduct”. Browsing to twitch.tv/donaldtrump now features the message: “Sorry. Unless you’ve got a time machine, that content is unavailable.”
In a statement issued to the media, a Twitch spokesperson said: “Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules.”
Twitch had previously flagged comments from Trump made at a 2020 election campaign rally in Tulsa, but it’s a surprise to see the company drop the ban hammer, albeit temporarily.
Trump will almost certainly see this as a vindictive act and the latest barb in his long-running feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, a regular thorn in the president’s side.
It comes as Twitter continues to flag Trump’s tweets for misleading and manipulated content, hiding some from view on the grounds they incite violence, leading to furious protests from the president.
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As well as the rebuke from Twitch, several high profile subreddits, including r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse were removed from Reddit citing hate speech-related violations.
Of, r/The_Donald, a vocal pro-Trump community, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman says (via The Verge): “Reddit’s mission is to bring community and belonging to everybody in the world, and there is speech in the world and on Reddit that prevents other people from doing so.
“Harassing speech or hateful speech prevents people from coming to Reddit and feeling safe and sharing their vulnerabilities … So if we have speech on Reddit that’s preventing people from using Reddit the way that we intend it to be used, or that prevents us from achieving our mission, then it’s actually a very easy decision.”
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
