Both Facebook and YouTube have taken down a video featuring President Trump addressing those who breached the Capitol building, in which he told them “we love you.” Simultaneously, Twitter restricted the same video, preventing shares but leaving it viewable, just moments prior.

Numerous videos and posts documenting the turbulent events unfolding in Washington, D.C. are circulating on social media platforms. However, President Trump’s direct statements regarding the situation were limited. His communications encouraged the individuals involved to “remain peaceful,” even after they had already entered the Capitol and lawmakers had been evacuated.

Around 5 PM Eastern time, President Trump released a video restating his claim that the election was “stolen,” but also urging his supporters to “go home now. Go home, we love you. You’re very special.”

Twitter quickly applied restrictions to this post, displaying a prominent notice stating that “this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence.”

Guy Rosen, Facebook’s Vice President of Integrity, announced via Twitter that “this represents an emergency, and we are implementing suitable emergency protocols, including the removal of President Trump’s video. Our decision was based on the assessment that it exacerbates, rather than reduces, the potential for continued violence.

Facebook has previously removed content from President Trump. In August, the platform took down a video where he asserted that children were “almost immune” to COVID-19, a statement that was demonstrably false and contradicted by scientific evidence.

While Twitter and Facebook developed specific guidelines to address potential threats to the election in the lead-up to November, YouTube initially took a less active stance. In early December, a month following the election, the company announced it would begin removing content containing unsubstantiated claims of “widespread fraud or errors” impacting the U.S. election. YouTube’s removal of the president’s video on Wednesday was consistent with this policy.

“We have removed a video posted this afternoon to Donald Trump’s channel because it violated our policies concerning content that asserts widespread fraud or errors altered the result of the 2020 U.S. Election,” a YouTube representative explained to TechCrunch, adding that the video would be permissible if presented with appropriate context for “educational” purposes.

This is a developing story.