Facebook bans President Trump’s account indefinitely and also Instagram
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the risk of allowing President Donald Trump to use the social media platforms was simply too great.
Facebook has banned US President Donald Trump from posting anything on his account — including Instagram — in response to his supporters storming into Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning in Washington D.C.
Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a post said, “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 insurrection by the supporters of President Trump drew widespread condemnation inside the United States as well as the world and he was largely using his social media accounts to make unsubstantiated statements and inciting his supports.
Zuckerberg further stated, “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.
He also pointed out that the President had used these platforms to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters. Facebook has already removed his statements.
Zuckerberg emphasised that the company allowed President Trump to use its platform when his content was consistent with its rules, while it has removed or labelled content that violated the policies.
“But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government,” the Facebook founder said.
President Trump has been a very active user on social media, including Twitter to post controversial statements. His latest tirade was against the whole Presidential election process, where he refused to concede that the winner was Joe Biden, who will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States of America on January 20.
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta
