The @realDonaldTrump Twitter profile on Friday after the account was taken down by Twitter. (Twitter screenshot)

Update, Friday, 4:10 p.m.: Twitter announced Friday that it was permanently suspending the account of President Trump, citing what it called “the risk of further incitement of violence” days after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The account @realDonaldTrump turned blank on Friday afternoon and the social media company tweeted from its @TwitterSafety account the reasoning behind its decision.

Twitter also offered a more thorough analysis of its approach to enforcing its policies in a blog post which called out two tweets by the president on Friday morning. In one of those tweets, Trump said he would not be attending the inauguration of President Elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20. Twitter said that tweet may also serve as “encouragement to those potentially considering violent acts that the Inauguration would be a ‘safe’ target, as he will not be attending.”

The company’s historic action came after hundreds of Twitter employees demanded in a letter to CEO Jack Dorsey and others that they suspend the account following the violent and deadly attack in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.

Update, Thursday, 11:50 a.m. PT: Amazon-owned Twitch announced that it, too, was disabling President Trump’s account indefinitely. The streaming service called it “a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence,” according to The Verge.

Update, Thursday, 8 a.m. PT: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the social media giant will extend its ban on President Trump’s ability to post on Facebook and Instagram indefinitely, and at least until Trump leaves office.

“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” he added. “Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

A Twitter warning posted on a tweeted video by President Trump on Wednesday. The video was later removed by Twitter and Facebook. (Twitter screenshot)

Original story: Chaos unfolding in Washington, D.C., as supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, attracted a riveted audience on social media on Wednesday — and backlash against some tech platforms for fostering the very actions many were witnessing.

As images of rioters inside the halls of the Capitol, in lawmakers’ offices and on the floors of both the Senate and House chambers were streamed across Twitter and television, users and viewers reacted in disbelief that America’s deep political divide had reached such a tipping point.

In the Seattle region and elsewhere, tech leaders and watchers weighed in on the violence, as well as what role tech — Twitter, Facebook, et al — had in dealing with it.

Many called for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to immediately suspend the account of President Trump. Late Wednesday, the social media company got close, as it took down three of the president’s tweets for the first time, locked his account for 12 hours and said that Trump could face permanent suspension if he continues to violate its integrity policy. “Delete his account” was trending on the site.

(Twitter screeshot)

In tweets from the @TwitterSafety feed, Twitter said it took the action after “repeated and severe violations” of its policy by the president.

Beyond his role in stoking his supporters at a Wednesday rally aimed at further disputing his loss in the November presidential election, Trump was hammered by commentators all afternoon for failing to do anything meaningful to quell the uprising. He tweeted twice, telling people to respect law enforcement, before posting a video that again made claims of a stolen election — while asking people to please go home.

Twitter slapped a new warning on the video tweet, saying that it could not be replied to, liked or retweeted “due to risk of violence.” And then, around 3:30 p.m. PT, the video tweet and two others were removed from the president’s timeline and “this tweet is no longer available” messages were in their place.

On Facebook, Trump’s posts also drew a warning label, about how the U.S. has laws to ensure the integrity of its elections. But the president’s video address was removed more quickly from Facebook. Guy Rosen, the social media giant’s VP of Integrity, called the scenario an “emergency situation” in a tweet, and in a blog post he wrote on behalf of the company’s leadership team about actions being take.

And later Wednesday, Mike Isaac of The New York Times reported that Facebook was locking Trump out of posting on the site for 24 hours.

In a post on BuzzFeed News, reporter Ryan Mac mocked the moves by multibillion dollar internet companies, writing that their warning labels “are beyond rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. They’re pointing out the dangers of icebergs as people are drowning.” He pointed to groups organizing on Facebook as examples of how easily extremist views are disseminated.

Here’s more reaction, including from Microsoft President Brad Smith:

Google CEO Sundar Pichai called the events in D.C. “shocking and scary” in an email to employees that was tweeted by Axios journalist Ina Fried. Puchai said “the lawlessness and violence occurring on Capitol Hill today is the antithesis of democracy and we strongly condemn it.”

Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer, longtime tech journalist Kara Swisher, and investor Chris Sacca were among those calling on Facebook and Twitter to suspend Trump’s account.

Hadi Partovi, CEO of Seattle-based Code.org, offered some sense of comfort based on his life experiences.

In video footage from the Capitol, it was nearly impossible to spot anyone in the crowd of thousands who wasn’t holding up a smartphone to document what was happening. Online personality Tim Gionet, who is known as Baked Alaska, even live streamed from inside the Capitol building on the service DLive, according to Business Insider and tweets of his activity.

Many politicians from Washington state were in the Capitol for proceedings to certify the Electoral College victory of President Elect Joe Biden. But the mob forced them to seek shelter and to take to social media to let the outside world know what they were seeing and whether they were safe.

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