SAN FRANCISCO: Snapchat on Wednesday stopped promoting posts by US President Donald Trump, saying they incite “racial violence.”
“We are not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform,” Snapchat said in response to an AFP inquiry, referencing the youth-focused social network’s section for recommended content.
“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover.”
The move came after Twitter took an unprecedented stand by hiding a Trump post it said promoted violence, thrusting rival Facebook into turmoil for refusing to sanction false or inflammatory posts by the US president.
The decision was made over the weekend, during which Snapchat parent Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel sent a lengthy memo to employees condemning what he saw as a legacy of racial injustice and violence in the US.
“Every minute we are silent in the face of evil and wrongdoing we are acting in support of evildoers,” Spiegel wrote as companies responded to the outrage over the police killing of a black man in Minnesota.
“I am heartbroken and enraged by the treatment of black people and people of color in America.”
Snapchat will not promote accounts in the US that are linked to people who incite racial violence on or off the messaging platform, according Spiegel.
The Discover feature at Snapchat is a curated platform on which the California-based company get to decide what it recommends to users.
Trump’s account remains on the platform, it will just no longer be recommended viewing, according to Snapchat.
“We may continue to allow divisive people to maintain an account on Snapchat, as long as the content that is published on Snapchat is consistent with our community guidelines, but we will not promote that account or content in any way,” Spiegel said in the memo.
“We will make it clear with our actions that there is no grey area when it comes to racism, violence, and injustice — and we will not promote it, nor those who support it, on our platform.”
Snapchat is particularly popular with young Internet users, claiming that about half of the US “generation Z” population tapping into news through its Discover feature.
Snapchat curbs Trump posts for inciting ‘racial violence’
https://arab.news/vmg8s
Snapchat curbs Trump posts for inciting ‘racial violence’
- “We are not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform,” Snapchat said
- The move came after Twitter took an unprecedented stand by hiding a Trump post it said promoted violence
Israel designates 5 Palestinian media platforms ‘terrorist organizations’
- Defense Minister Israel Katz issues ban on Al-Asima News, M3raj Network, Al-Quds Albawsala Network, Maydan Al-Quds, Plus Quds Network, accusing them of ‘incitement’
- Jerusalem-based digital outlets provide essential minute-by-minute coverage from the Old City, Palestinian neighborhoods, Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
LONDON: Israel has designated five Palestinian media platforms “terrorist organizations” over their coverage of Israeli measures in East Jerusalem, accusing them of “incitement.”
The Ministry of Defense issued a ban on Sunday on Al-Asima News, M3raj Network, Al-Quds Albawsala Network, Maydan Al-Quds, and Plus Quds Network.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Defense Minister Israel Katz had signed the order and that the attorney general “confirmed that there is no legal obstacle” to the move.
Israeli authorities said the outlets incited unrest by focusing on developments in East Jerusalem and at Al-Aqsa Mosque. They alleged that Hamas used the platforms to stir tensions among Palestinians during Ramadan.
Israeli authorities ordered internet service providers and social networking companies to block access to the specified accounts.
Al-Asima, one of the banned outlets, said on Monday it was suspending operations.
The network said: “In a new step added to Israel’s record of repression and gagging, the occupation has banned the work of several Jerusalem-based news networks in an attempt to isolate Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa, monopolize them, and suppress their news from the world.
“This is not a retreat from our mission, but a measure to protect our journalists from the occupation’s brutality.”
The right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified measures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since taking office at the end of 2022.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israeli authorities have imposed tighter restrictions on movement for West Bank residents at checkpoints leading into East Jerusalem.
The actions come amid a broader land-grab agenda that is expected to accelerate after the Israeli security cabinet approved measures to increase Israeli civilian authority in Areas A and B of the West Bank, which together make up about 40 percent of the territory.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has condemned those steps, warning they “will undoubtedly accelerate the dispossession of Palestinians and their forcible transfer,” and further deprive them of natural resources and other basic rights.
In this heavily fragmented environment — marked by checkpoints, gates and roadblocks — the Jerusalem-based digital outlets have played a key role, providing minute-by-minute coverage from the Old City, Palestinian neighborhoods and, crucially, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
They have also documented daily realities often absent from mainstream media coverage, including home demolitions, land seizures, settler takeovers, arrests and repeated incursions into holy sites.
It remains unclear whether Israel’s move against the media platforms will be temporary or permanent.
However, concerns are growing that the action forms part of a wider effort to isolate the West Bank not only physically, but also by constraining Palestinian narratives, a trend likely to come under increased international scrutiny.
