Snapchat developer Snap Inc. said in a statement Wednesday that the account for United States President Donald Trump would no longer appear in its Discover section due to his comments around ongoing protests. (Thomas White/Reuters)
Snap Inc. said it would no longer promote U.S. President Donald Trump’s account in Snapchat’s Discover section, saying his inflammatory comments last week made the account ineligible for the curated section where users explore new content.
“We will not amplify voices who incite racial violence and injustice by giving them free promotion on Discover,” the company said in a statement.
“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.”
Shares fell 2.4 per cent after the announcement.
Trump’s Snapchat account, which consists mostly of campaign content and does not contain the informal rhetoric he regularly uses on his favoured platform Twitter, will remain public and accessible to people who follow it or search for it, Snap said.
Twitter ignited a furor last week by placing labels on several of Trump’s tweets that it said violated its rules on misleading information and glorifying violence.
Facebook declined to take any action on the same posts, prompting an employee protest on Monday.
Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel told staffers in a memo on Sunday that the company would “walk the talk” on divisive content, noting that the Discover section is “a curated platform, where we decide what we promote.”
The company said its decision to remove the president’s content from Discover was made over the weekend.