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Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Twitter and Facebook announced Wednesday that they have locked President Donald Trump's accounts for violating the companies' policies amid a riot at the U.S. Capitol. The temporary suspensions came after Twitter removed three tweets Trump posted in which he both urged peace and showed praise for his supporters as they besieged the Capitol.
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"As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump Tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy," the "Twitter Safety" account posted Wednesday evening.
"This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked."
Twitter said that if Trump violates its Civil Integrity or Violent Threats policies in the future, it will permanently suspend his account.
Facebook later Wednesday announced via Twitter it assessed two policy violations on Trump's page, resulting in a "24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time."
Thousands of Trump's supporters breached a police barricade surrounding the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon after the president gave remarks in the Ellipse. They forced their way inside the Capitol as members of Congress debated the certification of electoral votes that gave President-elect Joe Biden the win in the 2020 election.
Hours after the insurrection began, Trump released a video statement in which he continued to repeat claims that the election was "stolen from us" but called on people to leave the Capitol and go home.
"You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don't want anybody hurt," he said.
Facebook and YouTube removed the video with Facebook Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen saying "it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence" and YouTube saying it repeated false information about the outcome of the election. Twitter initially restricted the video, preventing people from liking, retweeting or replying to the post and later followed suit in removing it.
Facebook added in a blog post Wednesday evening that it was actively searching its platform to remove praise and support for the storming of the Capitol and calls to bring weapons to locations across the United States and for protests that violate the curfew in D.C.
It said it has also updated its label on election posts to say: "Joe Biden has been elected President with results that were certified by all 50 states. The U.S. has laws, procedures and established institutions to ensures that peaceful transfer of power after an election."
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, called on Twitter and Facebook to go further and premaritally remove Trump, blaming the companies for amplifying "his anti-democratic rhetoric."
"Enough is enough!" he said via Twitter. "Trump is inciting violence and spreading dangerous misinformation that is undermining our democracy and our way of life."
