Snapchat has shown more courage than Facebook. After the offensive Tweet from President Trump’s account, the social media app has decided to withdraw from any promotional campaign that included him.
Although Donald Trump’s account will remain on the platform and will be identifiable through search results, it will no longer appear in the Discover tab. This is the section that promotes news related to politics, celebrities and influencers.
“We are not currently promoting the president’s content on Snapchat’s Discover platform. 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 company said in a statement.
Trump has 1.5 million followers on the platform, and over the last few years, the following has only grown as he uses this platform to promote his campaign quite frequently. Last month, Trump administration had said that it definitely values the young audience that is present on Snapchat as they are the future and voting for the first time in the 2020 election.
Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel has condemned the racial violence and has urged people to demand and contribute to bringing a systemic change. However, it must be clarified that he didn’t mention Trump by name in his message to the employees.
He said: “As for Snapchat, we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform. Our Discover content platform is a curated platform, where we decide what we promote. We have spoken time and again about working hard to make a positive impact, and we will walk the talk with the content we promote on Snapchat. We may continue to allow divisive people to maintain an account on Snapchat, as long as the content that is published on Snapchat is consistent with our community guidelines, but we will not promote that account or content in any way.
Brad Parscale (Chairman of Trump’s campaign) has accused the platform of “trying to rig the 2020 election, illegally using their corporate funding to promote Joe Biden and suppress President Trump.”
He further said that, “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.”