The president of the United States will no longer be allowed to post to Facebook for at least the remainder of his term after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday as Congress convened to confirm President-Elect Joe Biden’s election win, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post .
Social media platforms faced significant pressure to take action after President Trump failed to de-escalate the situation at the Capitol with several messages Wednesday afternoon.
As the mob overran Capitol Police, smashed windows and doors, fired guns, and ransacked the halls of the Capitol, forcing Congress to evacuate to a secure location, the president asked his supporters to remain peaceful while also telling them, “I love you,” and repeating his false claims about election fraud.
In response, Twitter locked down the president’s account, deleting three tweets that the platform said violated its rules, one of which included a contentious video message. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube also took down the video, and Facebook and Instagram also issued a 24-hour ban to the president.
On Thursday, Facebook made the decision to extend that ban “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,” Zuckerberg wrote in his post .
“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,” Zuckerberg continued.
Zuckerberg also noted that the platform had had an often-controversial relationship with the president regarding some of his posts.
“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.”
And so, Zuckerberg announced that the president would be blocked from Facebook until at least after Biden’s inauguration.
“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,” Zuckerberg concluded.
What do you think? Was Facebook right to ban the president indefinitely? Let us know in the comments.
