President Trump has not accepted that he has lost the election and that his power is soon to be taken over by Joe Biden. For weeks, he has been very vocal about the rigged election and has been demanding an overturn, but on 6th January 2021, his instigating posts and comments prompted hundreds of his supporters to turn into a wild mob and attach the US Capitol, where a session of Congress was underway. This whole rampage began when two of the Democrats won Senate seats in Georgia that tipped the scale balance towards the Democratic party’s control over the Senate. This inadvertently would make President-elect Joe Biden’s more powerful and in control.
Chaos At The Capitol
Trump’s supporters shoved past the Capitol police, assaulting them on the way, shoving various barricades, they disrupted the Congress’s session that was looking over the count of Electoral College Votes.
Most of the protestors were wearing body armor and they even used chemical irritants to attack the police who were trying to stop them. The Congresspeople had to take refuge under their seats to avoid getting attacked by the tear gas. The chaos and violence prompted thousands of National Guard Troops, FBI agents, and secret services personnel to immediately deploy and try to control the situation.
The protestors kept the Capitol ‘hostage’ for more than three hours. As per the initial reports, one woman and two men died after incurring shot wounds and other medical emergencies. 14 Capitol Policemen were severely injured.
Trump’s video in response to his protestor’s violence
Following the unrest at the Capitol, Trump posted a video on YouTube and Facebook in which he delegitimized the election and called it stolen. What was worse was that he had the audacity to ‘praise’ his loyalists! He also posted three tweets that were labeled as ‘disputed’ by Twitter within 10 minutes.
Facebook and YouTube also removed the video and some violence-instigating posts by Trump.
Protestors live-streamed the whole violent event
The people participating in the coup attempt were screaming in Trump’s support, chanting the National Anthem, and the most disturbing call that they were making was a ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chant. Mike Pence is the Vice president of Congress and Trump has been claiming that he doesn’t dare to take the right steps to protect the US and its constitution. And that he is continuously letting fraudulent and incorrect facts regarding the election to be certified.
The Live streams were covered by broadcasters of famous YouTubers and rightists like Stephen Ignoramus and BakedAlaska. The live streams were coming from left, right, and center on all the platforms that are possibly available for mankind at the moment, and the narrators were narrating the exact details of the chaos and violence going on at the Capitol.
During the riots, Mike Pence was safely rushed out to keep him protected.
Finally, Tech Giants Take A Step
Twitter makes the first move
Following all this, Twitter took some immediate actions. First off, it announced that as a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., they have removed three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier on 6thJanuary for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy. Continued violation may result in a permanent ban.
Facebook and Instagram also follow
After Facebook removed the controversial video that Trump posted, both Facebook and Instagram announced that they assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page which resulted in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he lost the ability to post on both the platforms during that time.
Both Facebook and Instagram also started blocking the #StormTheCapitol and removed any content that contained praises for the protestors who were involved in the heinous event. All these protestors also have been designated under Facebook’s policies of ‘dangerous individuals and organizations.’
The company also made several changes for emergency measures to deal with this unrest in the country, including additional admin review for posts and auto-disabling of comments on posts that may be instigating or spreading misinformation or hate speech. Facebook is also scrutinizing the posts that are calling people to bring weapons to any location in the country.
Antithesis of Democracy
Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO has claimed that these riots are strongly condemnable. He also said that this kind of lawlessness and violence occurring on Capitol Hill is scary and shocking for everyone. He believes that the core foundation of democracy lies in holding free and safe elections and if any differences arise, resolve them peacefully, not with such riots.
Pichai also dispatched the company’s leaders to check on the offices and company’s employees in the DC.to ensure their safety.
The Dark Moment
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook called this unfortunate event a dark moment in America’s history. He also condemned this mob violence and said that it is crucial for the functioning of democracy to have a peaceful transition of power.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
