The verified Snapchat account of President Trump will no longer be promoted within the app after executives have concluded that his tweets over the weekend promoted violence, the company said today. His account, RealDonaldTrump, will remain on the platform and will continue to appear on results of searches. But he won’t appear in the Discover tab anymore, which promotes news publishers, elected officials, celebrities, and influencers.
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“We are not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform,” the company said in a statement. “We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover. Racial violence and injustice have no place in our society and we stand together with all who seek peace, love, equality, and justice in America.”
Bloomberg reported last month that Trump, who has more than 1.5 million followers on the platform, has seen his Snapchat following more than triple over the past year in part due to regular promotion in the Discover tab of the app. The Trump campaign told Bloomberg it valued the youthful audience of Snapchat, many of whom will vote in the 2020 election for the first time.
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Snap’s move comes in the wake of a growing controversy at the president’s tweets posted over the weekend in response to peaceful protests from the murders of George Floyd and other black Americans by Police. Twitter placed some of Trump’s tweets behind “glorifying violence” warning screens. Tweets were also posted cross-posted to Facebook, which decided to leave them up — triggering a virtual walkout on Monday with as many as 400 employees.
The decision was made over the weekend to remove Trump from Discover, the company said, after Trump tweeted that protesters would be “welcomed with the most vicious dogs and ominous weapons I’ve ever seen”
There was no immediate comment from The White House.
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