Snapchat Permanently Bans Trump for Trying to Incite Violence

Snapchat permanently banned US President Donald Trump's account, saying he has violated the mobile app rules many times by trying to spread hate speech and incite violence.

After indefinitely suspending Trump's account following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Snap Inc. has "been assessing what long term action is in the best interest of our Snapchat community," the company said in a statement. "In the interest of public safety, and based on his attempts to spread misinformation, hate speech, and incite violence, which are clear violations of our guidelines, we have made the decision to permanently terminate his account."

Trump is also permanently banned from Twitter, Inc. He has been suspended from Facebook Inc.'s leading social network and Instagram indefinitely, and his Google YouTube account cannot post for a week.

Snapchat was one of the first social networks to take action on Trump's posts and decided last year, during widespread protests in the United States against police shootings of black men, that the president's rhetoric inspired racial hatred. At the time, the app restricted the president's posts from reaching beyond those who specifically chose to follow him.

In the months that followed, Trump attempted to post content that violated Snapchat community guidelines or terms of service dozens of times, according to the Santa Monica, California-based company. After each instance, Snap removed the content and sent a warning to Trump's team. Axios previously reported on Snap's permanent ban.