It's official. The current President of the United States has been banned from Facebook and Instagram, as announced by Mark Zuckerberg.
President Donald Trump has spent the last few months questioning the legitimacy of the democratic process, doubting the results of the 2020 Presidential Election, and repeatedly claiming that the Democrats "stole" the Presidency. He encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol building yesterday morning, which prompted a riot. MAGA-hat-wearing men and women broke into the Capitol in the most serious breach since the War of 1812. Trump's response to the chaos was inappropriate and seemingly called to incite even further damage and violence, so Twitter took action, removing three of his posts and banning the President for 12 hours. Now, Mark Zuckerberg is taking action with his own platforms.
Issuing a statement on Thursday morning, Zuck announced that Trump would be barred from using his Instagram and Facebook account for at least the next two weeks until Biden is inaugurated, revealing that the ban is "indefinite".
"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," wrote Zuckerberg.
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."
Zuckerberg explains that, in the past, Facebook and Instagram have kept a close eye on Trump's accounts, removing any posts that breached their guidelines. For the next two weeks though, he will not be allowed to post.
"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," said Zuck. "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."
The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining...
Farewell, Donald.
