LOS ANGELES: YouTube said it removed a video uploaded to President Trump's channel because of a policy violation - which resulted in the video platform suspending his ability to share content on YouTube for at least seven days.

“After review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, we removed new content uploaded to Donald J. Trump’s channel for violating our policies. It now has its 1st strike & is temporarily prevented from uploading new content for a *minimum* of seven days,” YouTube said in a statement on Twitter.

The video side added, “Given the ongoing concerns about violence, we will also be indefinitely disabling comments on President Trump’s channel, as we’ve done to other channels where there are safety concerns found in the comments section.”

YouTube didn’t specify the nature of the video shared on Trump’s channel that violated its policy against inciting violence that led to the “first strike”. Under YouTube’s “three strikes” guidelines, if a channel receives a second strike within 90 days it will be suspended for two weeks; a third strike results in a permanent ban.

Trump is facing impeachment proceedings in Congress over his role in organising and supporting the insurrectionist mob that took over the US Capitol on Jan 6 in a deadly clash with police.

YouTube’s move came after Twitter last Friday permanently banned Donald Trump, citing the potential risk that the lame-duck president will foment additional violence among his supporters. Trump’s accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch and other platforms also have been indefinitely or permanently blocked.

Last Wednesday, YouTube removed Trump’s video post to rioters in Washington, D.C., in which the president told them to “go home” and said that “We love you, you’re very special”, while he also repeated false claims that the US election was fraudulent. YouTube said that was a violation of its ban on election misinformation. Facebook removed the video, citing concerns it would increase the risk of ongoing violence, and Twitter disabled Trump’s post over violations of its Civic Integrity policy.

In the last few days, YouTube has come under increasing pressure for not banning Trump from its platform.

“Virtually every social media company has removed Trump...EXCEPT YouTube,” Sacha Baron Cohen, who has been vocal on the issue of Internet platforms needing to crack down on hate speech, tweeted on Jan 11. “Trump’s YouTube channel is STILL showing videos of his election lies to MILLIONS of people! Retweet and tell @Google, @sundarpichai, @YouTube, @SusanWojcicki - do the right thing!”

 - Reuters