US President Donald Trump came under heavy fire after MAGA supporters breached and vandalized the US Capitol, clashed with the law enforcement officers, sending the entire nation into a state of shock and chaos. In view of the shocking incident, social media giants went beyond labelling Trump's posts and placed a block on his Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Facebook had originally decided to ban Trump for 24 hours, citing reasons of his recent comments and posts that ignited violence rather than diminishing it. The same was done for Instagram. But Mark Zuckerberg took to his Facebook profile to announce that an indefinite block on Trump's Facebook and Instagram account has been placed to ensure "peaceful transition of power is complete."
"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 said in a post on Thursday.
Twitter had placed a 12-hour ban on Trump's personal Twitter account, which has a following of 88.7 million followers. The condition to lift the lock was to delete the provocative tweets in question and ensure there are no future violations of Twitter Rules, which could result in permanent suspension.
There is no word on whether Twitter will follow Facebook's footsteps in extending the block on the account, if not indefinitely, until at least January 20, when the transition of power is complete in the US presidency.
Mark Zuckerberg's full post
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.
