For at least two weeks – and probably indefinitely – Donald Trump has been removed from his Facebook account. It means that until after the transfer of power to Joe Biden on 20 January, the President will be unable to post on Facebook and Instagram.
After his followers threatened the US Capitol, the social network had originally implemented a 24-hour ban.
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief, wrote that the risks of allowing Mr. Trump to post “are simply too great”
In a Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube video, Mr. Trump told the rioters “I love you” before asking them to go home. He repeated false allegations of electoral fraud as well.
Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook had removed the president’s posts “because we judged that their effect – and likely their intent – would be to provoke further violence”.
He said Mr. Trump’s aim to disrupt the transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden was obvious.
“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,” he wrote. Mr. Trump’s favored platform, Twitter, had also suspended the president for 12 hours.
It said it required the removal of three tweets for “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy”.
The company said the president’s account if the tweets were not deleted, would stay locked for good.
It went on to say that “Future violations of the Twitter Rules… will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account”.
Mr. Trump was also stopped by Snapchat from making new posts but did not say whether or when the ban would end. YouTube deleted the video as well.
His supporters stormed the U.S. government headquarters and fought with the police, causing one woman to die.
The violence brought the congressional debate over the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden to a halt.
Republicans have been questioning the certification of November’s election results in the House and Senate chambers. President Trump had told supporters at the National Mall in Washington before the attack that the election had been robbed.
Hours later, he appeared on camera and reiterated the false assertion as the violence mounted inside and outside the US Capitol.
YouTube said it had deleted the video because it “violated policies on spreading election fraud”
Initially, Twitter did not take the video down, but eliminating the opportunity to retweet, like, and comment on it and another tweet.
It later removed them, however, and suspended the outgoing president. YouTube already had the policy to eliminate false news, which is extended to the president, about mass election fraud.
Online, including on Facebook groups and sites, the march was partly coordinated.
Facebook said it was searching for and deleting posts that caused or sponsored the Capitol Hill storm. Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce software company, also took action against the president.
It took shops to run offline by the Trump campaign and the Trump Organisation, saying its laws forbade retailers to help those advocating abuse.
“As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump,” it told the Wall Street Journal.
Source: BBC, Mark Zuckerberg
