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Twitch disables Trump's channel following chaos at the Capitol

07 January 2021
 Dan Ackermann

Twitch, the Amazon-owned live video streaming platform, disabled President Trump's account, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios on Thursday.

Why it matters: It's the latest in a string of platform efforts to take action on Trump's accounts following his calls for violence that resulted in the historic riot at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

  • Snapchat was the first to disable the president's account Wednesday.
  • Facebook said Thursday it banned Trump's account indefinitely, but at least for two weeks.
  • Twitter froze Trump out of his account for breaking the platform's rules, and may be ban him indefinitely if he breaks the company's rules again.
  • YouTube said it will start applying strikes to Trump's account and other channels that post videos pushing misinformation about the election results.
  • Shopify, the e-commerce platform, removed two online stores affiliated with the president.

What they're saying: “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel," a spokesperson from Twitch told Axios.

  • "Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President's incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence."

Flashback: Twitch was one of the first platforms in June to temporarily ban Donald Trump's channel for hateful content about the Black Lives Matter protests over the summer.

Go deeper: Social media platforms muzzle Trump after Capitol melee

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.