Snapchat will no longer promote Trump’s account

Snap Inc. announced Wednesday that it will no longer promote President Trump’s Snapchat account after concluding that some of his tweets from over the weekend promoted violence.

His account will stay up on the social media platform, but will no longer be promoted on the app’s Discover page, according to the company.

“We are not currently promoting the President’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform,” a spokesperson for Snap said in a statement to The Hill. “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.”

The president has more than 1.5 million followers on the platform, which is especially popular among younger audiences, according to Bloomberg.

Snapchat had previously promoted Trump’s content on its tab where users can find news publishers, celebrities and other elected officials.

Snap is the latest social media company to take action on Trump’s posts, especially ones about anti-police brutality demonstrations.

Twitter last week placed an interstitial warning about glorifying violence on a post where Trump said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in reference to protests in Minnesota over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police.

Facebook’s leadership, on the other hand, has left an identical post untouched, triggering backlash from dozens of employees.

In a memo to workers posted publicly on Monday, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel addressed Trump’s comments.

“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,” he wrote while explaining the company’s decision to stop promoting accounts that “incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform.”

The Trump campaign released a statement Wednesday condemning Snapchat’s decision, accusing the platform of trying to “rig” the election in likely Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s favor.

“Radical Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel would rather promote extreme left riot videos and encourage their users to destroy America than share the positive words of unity, justice, and law and order from our President,” Trump’s campaign manager Brad Parscale said in a statement.

Parscale also accused the platform of “voter suppression” by no longer giving extra boosts in viewership to Trump’s posts.

There is no evidence to suggest that the platform prioritizes content from any particular political affiliation.