Facebook Extends Suspension On Trump’s Account Until End Of Tenure

Mark Zuckerberg

The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has extended the ban on outgoing US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least minimum of next two weeks.

This is as a result of the aftermath of the violence that rocked the Capitol Building in Washington DC on Wednesday which resulted in the death of four persons and many police officers injured.

In a long post on his Facebook Account, Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “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.

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“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.

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“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,” he said.

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Twitter had also locked Trump out of his account for 12 hours and said that future violations could result in a permanent suspension.

The company had earlier required the removal of three of Trump’s tweets, including a short video in which he urged those supporters to “go home” while also repeating falsehoods about the integrity of the presidential election.

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