Melinda Gates: ‘This president incited this mob.’

Fintechs took the lead in castigating President Trump for egging on a crowd of his supporters to attack and ransack the U.S. Capitol building last week. The horrific incident left five dead.

Voices, and actions, from big tech followed with even Republican politicians welcoming the impeachment of Trump.

• Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) suspended Trump’s account. Twitter said Friday its action was due to the risk of further violence following the storming of the U.S. Capitol last week. Trump’s Twitter account has 88 million followers. (Economic Times)
• On January 7, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would ban President Donald Trump from its platforms “indefinitely.” “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” said Zuckerberg. “We are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.” (THE VERGE)

Fintechs Up in arms

• Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) took down Trump brand’s retail websites on January 7. “Based on recent events, we have determined that the actions by President Donald J. Trump violate our Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” Shopify said. (retailtouchpoints.com)
• Similarly, PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) too shut down an account that allegedly raised funds for Trump supporters who traveled to Washington, DC. PayPal said the group raising money for Trump supporters, called Joy In Liberty, violated its rules. “PayPal carefully reviews accounts to ensure our services are used in line with our long-standing policy,” the company said. “We do not allow PayPal services to be used to promote hate, violence or other forms of intolerance.” (CNET)
• Tech giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) kicked social media platform, Parler, off its servers with effect from 11:59 pm (PST) on Sunday. “There is significant content on Parler that encourages and incites violence against others, and that Parler is unable or unwilling to promptly identify and remove this content, which is a violation of our terms of service,” an AWS spokesman said. Parler has sued Amazon, saying its action was motivated by “political animus.”
• On Monday, payments processor Stripe reportedly stopped processing payments for Trump’s campaign website. (CROWDFUND INSIDER)

Lawlessness not acceptable

• House Democrats released an impeachment resolution Monday. Trump “made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol.” (MarketWatch)
• “A protest is one thing; a mob is a different thing,” Melinda Gates said while speaking with “Today” show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie in a segment that aired on Tuesday morning. (MarketWatch)
• Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday that anyone with a role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last week should be held accountable. (CNBC)

Impeachment and 25th Amendment Moves

• The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to approve a nonbinding resolution that calls on Vice President Mike Pence to “convene and mobilize” President Donald Trump’s cabinet to remove the president from power, invoking the powers granted by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution. (However, Vice President Mike Pence told House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday that he does not support the move) (MarketWatch)
• In an extraordinary letter Tuesday to the U.S. military, the nation’s top commanders condemned last week’s acts of “sedition and insurrection” at the U.S. Capitol, while acknowledging Joe Biden’s election victory. (CNBC)
• On Tuesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the heads of the branches of the U.S. military called the Jan. 6 riot “a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol building, and our constitutional process.” (MarketWatch)
• Republicans John Katko, Liz Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger support Trump’s impeachment.
• On Tuesday, Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) suspended President Donald Trump’s account on YouTube, the world’s largest video platform. (CNBC)
• The FBI is weighing sedition charges after registering 160 cases relating to the pro-Trump Capitol riot. (MarketWatch)

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