The Facebook Inc in a historic move has decided to block the United States President, Donald Trump’s social media pages on its platforms for the remaining 13 days of his presidency and possibly beyond.
Facebook, which own Twitter and the photo and video sharing app, Instagram, will also block the President’s account, Mark Zuckerberg the social media platforms CEO wrote in a post the day after Trump supporters breached the US Capitol building in a violent, unruly mob, forcing lawmakers to flee and the complex.
“We believe the risks of allowing President Trump to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks.”
After the inversion of the capitol building by protesters believed to be Trump supporters, lawmakers returned to continue their work after the building was deemed safe at 8pm (01:00 GMT) Wednesday, formally certifying Biden’s victory in the early hours of Thursday morning, 7th January, 2021.
Donald Trump has frequently used social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to speak directly to his followers and issue policy decisions, in contrast with former US presidents.
Zuckerberg said Facebook had “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.”
“The current context is now fundamentally different, involving the use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
Twitter Inc also locked the president’s handle after moving on Wednesday to remove several of his tweets that the platform deemed were in violation of its rules and guidelines.
Donald Trump has less than 14 days left in office before Biden is inaugurated on January 20.
There is now a growing call for Vice President Mike Pence Wednesday to “seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy”. That amendment to the US Constitution allows for the removal of a sitting president from office if he or she is deemed unfit to lead.
Facebook has faced criticism from lawmakers and some of its own employees in the past over how it handles disinformation related to the presidential election, as well as posts by Trump that contain falsehoods.
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