- The Department of Homeland Security sent a series of letters to companies including Facebook, Apple, Google, Twitter, and Snapchat encouraging them to take action against such posts, The Washington Post reported Friday.
- The letter reportedly does not take issue with any specific posts, but claims that social media has encouraged "burglary, arson, aggravated assault, rioting, looting, and defacing public property."
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The Trump administration is reportedly pressuring social media outlets to take action against posts that encourage toppling statues and other "criminal activity" amid nationwide protests.
The pedestal where the statue of Confederate general Albert Pike remains empty after it was toppled by protesters at Judiciary square in Washington, DC on June 20, 2020
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As protests against police brutality and racism stretch into their fourth week across the US, the Trump administration is reportedly pressuring tech companies to take action against posts that encourage the toppling of statues, describing them as "criminal activity."
Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf sent letters to companies including Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Snapchat Friday claiming that social media sites have enabled "burglary, arson, aggravated assault, rioting, looting, and defacing public property," The Washington Post reported .
Protesters have torn down or vandalized dozens of statues across the US in the past month. The majority of them were monuments to Confederate soldiers, which protesters see as a glorification of slavery.
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The DHS letters to tech companies reportedly don't mention any specific posts, but rather ask the platforms to "put an end" to posts that encourage the vandalism.
Representatives for Apple, Google, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter did not respond to requests for comment.
President Donald Trump has railed against protesters over the past month, and has repeatedly clashed with tech companies in the process.
After Trump tweeted about protests that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," Twitter applied a disclaimer to his tweet stating that it broke Twitter's rules against glorifying violence, igniting more fury from the president. Twitter applied a similar label to a more recent Trump tweet threatening "serious force" against DC protesters.
More recently, Trump tweeted that he wants to imprison protesters for 10 years as punishment for destroying monuments.
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A DHS spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
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