Discord has banned a server called “The Donald,” a pro-Trump community linked to banned subreddit r/The_Donald and TheDonald.win. The news was first reported by Platformer writer (and Verge contributor) Casey Newton.
The ban comes two days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol, encouraged by President Trump, though Discord says that it has no evidence that the server was used to organize the riots.
In STILL OTHER news, @Discord says it has banned server The Donald, which was connected to TheDonald dot Win and the Donald subreddit.
Made decision “due to its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence and plan an armed insurrection,” spox says.
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) January 8, 2021
“We have a zero-tolerance policy against hate and violence of any kind on the platform, or the use of Discord to support or organize around violent extremism,” Discord said in a statement shared with The Verge. “While there is no evidence of a server called The Donald being used to organize the Jan 6 riots, Discord decided to ban the entire server today due to its overt connection to an online forum used to incite violence, plan an armed insurrection in the United States, and spread harmful misinformation related to 2020 U.S. election fraud.”
Reddit banned pro-Trump subreddit r/The_Donald in June following an expansion of its policies to ban hate speech more explicitly. The Donald’s Discord server was one of the places former r/The_Donald members congregated following the ban, as detailed in this Mother Jones article from October.
Reddit also banned unofficial pro-Trump subreddit r/donaldtrump on Friday “given repeated policy violations in recent days regarding the violence at the US Capitol.”
