Snapchat permanently suspends Donald Trump’s account citing public safety concern

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Snapchat has decided to permanently suspend the account of Donald Trump after putting an indefinite ban on it following the Capitol Hill riots earlier this month. The suspension, which was first reported by Axios, comes after Twitter decided to boot the outgoing US president permanently off its platform as well for repeated serious policy violations.

“Last week we announced an indefinite suspension of President Trump’s Snapchat account, and have been assessing what long term action is in the best interest of our Snapchat community. 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,” Snap said in a statement shared with Pocketnow.  

READ MORE: Twitter has permanently banned Donald Trump

Trump's content has been removed in the past by Snapchat for policy violations.

Back in June last year, Snap put a stop to promoting content shared by Trump’s account in the Discover feed over material that was deemed harmful and posed a risk of inciting violence. However, Trump’s actions continued to violate Snapchat’s policies in the subsequent months, leading to the removal of his posts on multiple occasions. 

The social media company tells us that its platform is built primarily for communicating with people, and not for the dissemination of false information and toxic rhetoric that could lead to unrest. While Snapchat joins Twitter in permanently banning Donald Trump, Facebook and Instagram have put his account on an indefinite suspension, at least until the transfer of power and the associated ceremony for President elect Joe Biden concludes. 

READ MORE: Facebook and Instagram suspend Donald Trump indefinitely

Earlier today, Twitter chief Jack Dorsey shared some thoughts on Trump being banned on the platform and the kind of precedent it sets for other companies in a lengthy thread. “That said, having to ban an account has real and significant ramifications. While there are clear and obvious exceptions, I feel a ban is a failure of ours ultimately to promote healthy conversation. And a time for us to reflect on our operations and the environment around us,” Dorsey tweeted. 

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Twitter has permanently banned Donald Trump

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

So, it has happened at last. In what can be called the beginning of de-platforming Donald Trump from social media, Twitter has finally put in place a permanent ban on him and set the ball rolling. After labeling Donald Trump’s tweets for misleading content, getting some of them removed over risks of inciting violence, and temporarily suspending his account, Twitter has taken the next logical step – a permanent ban. Twitter has permanently banned the verified account of outgoing US President Donald Trump for violating its policies in the aftermath of the Capitol Hill siege by pro-Trump supporters earlier this week.

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company mentioned in a blog post. Twitter’s move came after reports mentioning that a lot of Twitter employees have been demanding a permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s account.

The social media giant added that two previous tweets from Trump, one of which talked about him missing the presidential inauguration ceremony later this month, could inspire people to engage in more violent activities similar to the one that took place in the Capitol Hill premises on January 6, 2021. Additionally, Twitter’s team also came to the conclusion that these tweets could be perceived as yet another encouragement for violence to his supporters.

You can read Twitter’s threat assessment that resulted in a permanent ban of Donald Trump’s account:

“Due to the ongoing tensions in the United States, and an uptick in the global conversation in regards to the people who violently stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, these two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks. After assessing the language in these Tweets against our Glorification of Violence policy, we have determined that these Tweets are in violation of the Glorification of Violence Policy and the user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service.”

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Facebook and Instagram suspend Donald Trump indefinitely

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Following the chaos that erupted yesterday when Pro-Trump supporters laid siege to the US Capitol Hill, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook removed a widely-condemned video from Donald Trump citing a risk of violence and for going against their policies. It was followed by a temporary one-day suspension of his accounts. Now, Facebook (as well as Instagram) has gone a step further and has disabled Donald Trump’s account indefinitely. The news was announced by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself in a lengthy post that you can read below:

“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.
His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.
Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.
Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.
We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. 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.”

Now, the term ‘indefinitely’ is quite broad, but Zuckerberg’s statement does hint that Trump’s account might remain suspended until the transfer of power to president-elect Joe Biden is successfully over. Instagram head Adam Mosseri tweeted that an Instagram suspension will remain in place for at least the next two weeks.

Twitter placed a 12-hour suspension yesterday, but has hinted that Donald Trump’s account will be permanently banned if any more serious violations are recorded. It now remains to be seen if Twitter follows in the footsteps of Facebook and Instagram, and disable Trump’s account until the process of power transfer is complete to prevent any further mishaps.

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Twitter disables reply, likes, and retweets for Trump posts citing a risk of violence

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

If you’re in the US – or have just been following the international news in the past few hours irrespective of your location – you surely must have come across the coverage of unprecedented mob violence around the US Capitol building. Pro-Trump protestors stormed the building and even reached the congressional area, causing the building to be evacuated in an emergency situation. In the wake of the violence, US President Donald Trump tweeted a video urging the rioters to ‘go home’ in the aftermath of the chaos. However, Twitter has restricted the aforementioned video.

We are also exploring other escalated enforcement actions: Twitter

“This claim of election fraud is disputed, and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence,” says the label. We’re not going to embed the tweet or link to it in this article for obvious reasons. In the video, Trump can be heard claiming that the election was stolen and that there was a voter fraud that caused him to lose the presidential election to Joe Biden. Twitter has also slapped an identical warning label on another tweet that makes similar claims, and has restricted as well.

Image: Twitter

Right now, the only action you can take is to quote tweet the aforementioned posts from Trump. However, if users try to quote tweet them, Twitter will again show the same warning in a window that links to a page with verified information obtained from government sources and media certifying that there was no election fraud. This is to make sure that users can learn the truth before they proceed to quote tweet Trump’s posts that say otherwise and make false claims.

READ MORE: Breaker – the podcast app with a social element – is now a part of Twitter

We love you. You're very special: Donald Trump said addressing the rioters

Some of the statements made by Trump in his video sound outrageous, especially the part where he addresses the rioters and tells them “We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special.” Many have urged Twitter to take down Trump’s tweet or even suspend his account, but that is yet to happen. However, this is not the first time that Twitter has labeled Trump’s tweet. In the past few months, the social media platform has done so on multiple occasions for Trump’s tweets that contradicted verified information from government agencies, especially those regarding the US election.

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US government bans transactions with eight Chinese apps including AliPay and WeChat Pay

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning transactions with companies behind (or subsidiaries/people associated with) eight popular Chinese apps that include Alipay, CamScanner, QQ Wallet, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate, WeChat Pay, and WPS Office. Alipay, which is China’s largest payment platform and is owned by Ant Financial, and WeChat Pay are among the two most well-known names that will be hurt by the US government’s latest move. The order will go into effect 45 days from now. However, necessary action will reportedly be taken by the US Commerce Department before Trump’s formal exit from the White House as president-elect Joe Biden takes over.

The executive order labels these eight apps a threat to national security

However, Ant Group is not the only Chinese behemoth that will feel the heat. Internet and entertainment services behemoth Tencent is also at target here, as two of the apps mentioned above – Tencent QQ and WeChat Pay – are owned by Tencent Holdings. To recall, the US government also sought to ban TikTok and WeChat last year, but the social media giant managed to avoid it by inking a deal with Oracle, while the WeChat ban was blocked by a US court. 

“The United States has assessed that a number of Chinese connected software applications automatically capture vast swaths of information from millions of users in the United States, including sensitive personally identifiable information and private information, which would allow the PRC and CCP access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information,” says the executive order. It adds that the data collected by these apps might allow the Chinese government to track federal employees as well as contracts to build a personal information database. 

Tencent and Ant Group own the three most popular apps on the list

The latest move by the US government highlights concerns similar to those raised by the Indian government when it banned 118 Chinese apps back in September, with the biggest name on the list being mobile gaming phenomenon PUBG Mobile and its Lite version. In fact, the Indian government’s ban also finds a mention in the executive order signed by President Trump. As for the eight Chinese apps mentioned above, they were identified by the Secretary of Commerce, who has also been ordered to identify more such apps that pose a threat to national security. 

“I stand with President Trump’s commitment to protecting the privacy and security of Americans from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party, and the Department of Commerce will leverage the authorities of the E.O. to continue our mission to secure the nation, the economy, and the people of the United States,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in an official statement. 

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Trump is planning to ban TikTok in the United States

Posted on by Samuel Martinez

President Trump apparently wants to ban the popular video app TikTok in the United States. On the president’s flight back to Washington, he said, “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States,” which could mean bad news for Microsoft as the company is in talks to acquire the app.

Donald Trump has made some rather controversial statements during his time as president. The latest one involves comments to reporters on the AirForce One. It seems that the president wants to ban the video-sharing app owned by Chinese ByteDance.
“Well, I have the authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” he said, referring to emergency economic powers.

This wouldn’t be the first country to ban the app since India already implemented a ban on the app back in June. The reason for this ban would primarily be privacy concerns, as TikTok tracks, user location, information and user metadata, and Chinese law can make any domestic company hand over all user data. However, a TikTok spokesperson said that it is independent and not subject to Chinese government data requests. He also claimed that the platform is a job creator commuted to its users’ privacy and safety.

“We’ve hired nearly 1,000 people to our U.S. team this year alone, and are proud to be hiring another 10,000 employees into great paying jobs across the U.S.,” the spokesperson said. “Our $1 billion creator fund supports U.S. creators who are building livelihoods from our platform… TikTok U.S. user data is stored in the U.S., with strict controls on employee access.”

Microsoft is also supposed to be in talks to acquire the app from ByteDance, even against Trump’s wishes. Still, if Microsoft does end up buying the app, it “will be a one hundred percent American company,” and this ban would be, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, “a danger to free expression.”

Source 9to5Google

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Twitch temporarily bans Donald Trump’s account over hateful conduct

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Twitch, the top live streaming platform in the world right now, has temporarily suspended President Donald Trump’s account for violating its policies around hateful conduct. A re-airing of one of Trump’s rallies where he made derogatory statements against Mexican migrants was removed citing hateful conduct.

“Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules,” Twitch was quoted as saying in a statement (via Engadget).

Twitch clearly mentions in its community guidelines that hateful conduct amounts to a zero-tolerance violation, and actions taken against such behavior might even include indefinite suspension, something that appears to have happened in the case of Trump’s account.

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Facebook, Twitter remove doctored video shared by Trump over copyright complaint

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Less than a day ago, Twitter flagged a video shared by President Donald Trump as “manipulated media” after it was proven to have been edited with malicious intent and showed an altogether different story. The original viral video showed two toddlers running to hug each other, but the edited video showed one of them running away from the other, complete with a fake CNN chyron reading “terrified toddler runs from racist baby.”

Now, Twitter has removed that video from Trump’s post, even though the tweet is still live. In place of the video, the media field now reads “The media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.” In addition to Twitter, Facebook has also removed the manipulated video.

Facebook and Twitter acted on copyright infringement complaints from the original video’s owner, Junkin Media, which also issued a DMCA notice on behalf of the video’s creator. The company said in a statement that it was an unauthorized use of copyright content since Jukin Media did not give Trump permission to post the video, and also criticized the creation of a manipulated version.

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Snapchat won’t promote Trump’s account after finding his posts call for violence

Posted on by Lee Kelly

Snap has announced that it will no longer promote President Donald Trump’s account in Snapchat’s Discover section after finding that his recent Twitter posts incite violence. For the unfamiliar, Discover is the section where Snapchat promotes posts from renowned personalities and celebs, giving them more exposure by drawing user engagement.

“We are not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform,” Snap noted in its 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.”

Trump’s Snapchat account will continue to exist, but his activities will no longer be shown in Discover. As for the posts that drew the penal action from Snap, it refers to a chain of three tweets shared on May 30, in which Trump said that the protesters “would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons” if they crossed the White House fence.

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Apple and other US companies may get extra taxes for manufacturing overseas

Posted on by Samuel Martinez
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It seems that Apple and other US companies may want to start moving their manufacturing back to the US. The latest information suggests that president Trump is planning to implement new taxes on American companies that manufacture devices or components outside of the United States.

Donald Trump and his administration may be looking for new ways to force US companies to bring their activities back to US grounds. The latest information from US officials, they are mainly trying to move product manufacturing out of China. This happens just after President Trump has extended the Huawei ban for another year. We also know that the US is trying to block HUAWEI’s access to global semiconductor shipments and that China has already warned that it will also start taking action.

Tariffs to Chinese imports have already made US companies lose $46 billion, according to the Commerce Department, and this US-China trade ban may have cost around $370 billion of Chinese products. Trump has also criticized the existence of supply chains, as he believes that production should be moved to US grounds. If these new tariffs finally take place, Apple may have to raise the prices on iPhones and other devices.

Source GSM Arena

Via Reuters

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Pocketnow Daily: Google Pixel 4a Tests: More Powerful than we thought? (video)

Posted on by Samuel Martinez
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https://youtu.be/dC12sUZvmWM

Apple’s 27-inch iMac, Razer Blade Stealth 13 and more, on sale today

Deals. For those of you looking for a laptop, Amazon has the Razer Blade Stealth 13 Ultrabook for $400 off, leaving the Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of SSD variant for $1400. B&H also has the early 2019 27in iMac for $400 depending on the variant, for example: the Core i9, 32GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD is available for $2999. We have more deals on Sennheiser headphones, Vizio TVs and more in the links in the description.

Buy 27-inch iMac

Buy Razer Blade Stealth 13

Buy Vizio 65-inch M-Series Quantum Smart TV

Buy Sennheiser PXC 550 wireless

President Trump extends US trade ban on HUAWEI for another year

It’s been a year since the whole Huawei trade war started which means, Huawei has been banned of working with US entities like Google for a year now. If you were expecting Google Play Services to come back to Huawei devices, you’re out of luck because President Trump just signed a new 1 year extension on the ban. This means that Huawei will have to “survive” without working with Google and other US companies until May 2021. We have the specifics of the extension in the link in the description.

LG Wing to arrive in H2 to redesign the Second Screen to a rotating design

We know that LG is reluctant to hop on the foldable trend so they have been making dual displays instead. A new report claims that the company is working on a phone codenamed ‘Wing’ which would have the secondary display in a swivel design for it to become a rotating display. The main display would be a 6.8in panel which will rotate to a T-Shape, revealing the secondary 4in display. Their current dual displays are focused on productivity while this one would be more focused on immersion, with capabilities like having you edit a picture in the main display while the controls are on the secondary display. This phone is expected to come out in the second half of 2020, probably at IFA.

The brains behind Pixel phones’ great camera performance has left Google

The Google Pixels are known for their cameras but, the brains behind these cameras just left the company. According to The Information, Marc Levoy who led the computational photography team which is responsible for things like Night sight and HDR+ left the company back in March. Yes this is the guy who was famous for saying that UltraWide is nice, but they believe Telephoto is better. Some other reports claim that executives like Rick Osterloh weren’t happy with the Google Pixel 4’s performance and sales, with it selling less than the Pixel 3 and 3a. Which might be another reason why many people have been leaving the company since January, like the GM and VP who responded directly to the CEO.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 won’t have a LTPO and 120Hz display after all

It seems that this year we’ll see more differences between the Note 20 and the larger Note 20+. We recently got some leaks for the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20+ displays. Now, the same source claims that the Note 20+ will bring that 120Hz LTPO display but, the regular Note won’t and will stick to an LTPS 60Hz panel. In theory, you should still be able to get 120Hz with LTPS but, it will consume a lot of power so it might not make it to this phone. He also claims that the price for this regular Note 20 will be significantly cheaper, around Note 10 Lite territory.

Story of the day:

These are the results of the Google Pixel 4a’s performance and battery test

We have a full on hands on video of the Google Pixel 4a which just went through some benchmarks and tests. Now, this unit is clearly a pre-production unit as you can clearly tell it has some funky software and it won’t be what you will most likely get at retail. The benchmarks show that it is slightly less powerful than the Pixel 3 XL and it’s also less powerful than the regular Pixel 4. The video also shows a battery test for the 3080 mAh battery which show 5 and 7hrs of screen on-time which doesn’t really reflect real life. We’re expecting this phone to come out in a little less than a month.

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President Trump extends US trade ban on HUAWEI for another year

Posted on by Lee Kelly

In yet another huge blow to HUAWEI, US President Donald Trump has extended the term of an executive order he signed last year that prevented US firms from working or sourcing telecom equipment from companies deemed a security risk. The extension will be effective until May 2021 for all companies on the entity list.

In case you are wondering, yes, HUAWEI happens to be on that list, meaning it will have to survive until May 2021 without conducting business with Google or other US-based companies. So, if you were hoping for a return of Google services on HUAWEI phones, you’re out of luck.

“The national emergency declared on May 15, 2019, must continue in effect beyond May 15, 2020.  Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13873 with respect to securing the information and communications technology and services supply chain,” said the latest order signed by Trump.

The executive order effectively declares a national trade emergency by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and states that acquisition or usage of telecom equipment from “foreign adversaries” poses a threat to national security. You can read the full order, dated May 13, here.

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Apple and other US companies have been ordered to look for alternatives to China

Posted on by Samuel Martinez

There is a new chapter in the US - China trade war. Now President Trump has ordered all American companies to move out of China

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