At least seven elected officials were suspended and/or banned from either Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube while in office from May 10, 2021, through January 31, 2023. YouTube’s indefinite suspension of former President Donald Trump (R) is the only suspension that remains in place.
YouTube suspended Trump’s account following comments he made during a news conference on January 12, 2021. A YouTube spokesperson said, “After careful review, and in light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence [following the January 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol], we removed new content uploaded to the Donald J. Trump channel and issued a strike for violating our policies for inciting violence.”
Twitter lifted Trump’s permanent suspension on November 19, 2022. Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter on October 27, tweeted out a poll on November 18 asking whether to reinstate Trump’s account. The Twitter poll showed 51.8% voting yes and 48.2% voting no. Musk tweeted the following day, saying, “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei.”
