Sacha Baron Cohen shamed Google for keeping Donald Trump's YouTube account live after Facebook and Twitter banned him
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Martin Coulter
Jan 11, 2021, 22:50 IST
Sacha Baron Cohen.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Actor and satirist Sacha Baron Cohen has called on Google's YouTube to follow other major social media platforms in banning or restricting US President Donald Trump's account.
In a tweet posted on Monday, the "Borat" star wrote: "Trump's YouTube channel is STILL showing videos of his election lies to MILLIONS of people!"
A host of social media platforms, including Twitter and Facebook, banned or restricted the President following the violent insurrection at the US Capitol last week.
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Sacha Baron Cohen has called on YouTube to "do the right thing" and join Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms in banning Donald Trump from its service.
The "Borat" star, who has become a vocal critic of social media platforms over the last year, tagged the CEOs of YouTube and parent company Google, Susan Wojcicki and Sundar Pichai respectively, in a tweet on Monday.
"Virtually every social media company has removed Trump ... EXCEPT YouTube," Baron Cohen wrote. "Trump's YouTube channel is STILL showing videos of his election lies to MILLIONS of people!"
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He added: "Retweet and tell @Google, @sundarpichai, @YouTube, @SusanWojcicki - do the right thing!"
The letter criticized YouTube for removing a video of a speech Trump gave ahead of the riots, as other platforms did, but not taking further action.
The Alphabet Workers Union was officially formed last Monday and comprises more than 600 employees from Google's parent company Alphabet.
"YouTube refuses to hold Donald Trump accountable to the platform's own rules by choosing only to remove one video instead of removing him from the platform entirely," the letter read.
YouTube recently introduced a new version of its "three strike" policy, with users being cut off from posting for one week following their first strike, and two weeks if they receive a second strike within the same 90-day period.
If a channel receives three strikes within the same 90-day period, it will be permanently removed from the platform, the firm added. confirming the strikes would stand even if users delete the content that warranted one in the first place.
Business Insider approached YouTube for comment.
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