Facebook bans Trump from posting for remainder of his term in office

By Brian Fung, CNN

 (CNN) -- Facebook's restrictions on President Donald Trump's account will continue for at least the next two weeks and perhaps "indefinitely," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post on Thursday.

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Zuckerberg wrote in the post. "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 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.


At the very least then, Facebook will continue to restrict the president's accounts through the end of his time in office.

The decision marks a major escalation by Facebook as it's come under intense pressure to ban Trump following his inflammatory rhetoric encouraging insurrection.

If the restrictions hold, Facebook could be the first major platform to remove Trump permanently.

Facebook and Twitter took the extraordinary step on Wednesday of temporarily locking President Donald Trump's account on their platforms after his supporters stormed the Capitol building to protest the election.

In his blog post Thursday, Zuckerberg said Facebook had determined that Trump's recent posts were "likely" intended to escalate the violence rather than the opposite.

Trump has shown he "intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden," Zuckerberg wrote.

Facebook has already described the events surrounding Trump's posts this week as an emergency. Now, Zuckerberg has finally revealed where Facebook will draw the line for Trump — at nothing less than a deadly assault on Congress.

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