Mark Zuckerberg announces that Donald Trump has been banned from Facebook and Instagram indefinitely

 

Mark Zuckerberg has banned Donald Trump from using Facebook indefinitely.

 

Facebook COO, Sherry Sandberg initially announced Trump has been banned from the platform for 24 hours, writing:

 

I am deeply disturbed by the violence that took place today at the US Capitol. The peaceful transition of power is the cornerstone of our democracy. Joe Biden has been elected the next President of the United States with results that were certified by all 50 states and the District of Columbia. We need to come together to focus on the critical problems our country is facing – ending the pandemic and helping our economy recover.

At Facebook, we are treating today’s violent events as an emergency. We are restricting President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts for the next 24 hours, meaning he’ll lose the ability to post on both platforms. We are also taking a number of other actions outlined in this post from our VP of Integrity Guy Rosen.

 

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg announced later that the ban on Trump's account has been extended indefinitely.

 

He wrote: "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.

 

"His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect -- and likely their intent -- would be to provoke further violence.

 

"Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.

 

"Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies. We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech. But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.

 

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, 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."