What you need to know
- Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook has suspended President Trump from both Facebook and Instagram indefinitely.
- The suspension will last for at least two weeks until Joe Biden is inaugurated.
- Zuckerberg said Trump's decision to "condone rather than condemn violence on the platform" had "rightly disturbed" people around the world.
Mark Zuckerberg has stated that Facebook has suspended President Trump from both Facebook and Instagram indefinitely.
In a recently uploaded post, Zuckerberg 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. 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.
Facebook said that over the past few years it had allowed the President to use its platform in accordance with its own rules, but that the current context was now "fundamentally different," stating it believed the President have used its platform "to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government. As such, the President's account on Facebook and Instagram have been suspended indefinitely, and at least until the transfer 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.
