Facebook Bans Trump Indefinitely

MENLO PARK, CA — President Donald Trump has been banned from Facebook indefinitely, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post Thursday morning.

The ban follows temporary suspensions issued by Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday after the president incited mobs that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and delayed President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory, plunging Washington into chaos.

The outgoing president’s Twitter account was set to be restored Thursday morning, The Washington Post reported.

“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,” Zuckerberg 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 social media giant’s CEO has come under fire from his own employees for allowing Trump to post incendiary statements on Facebook.

Over the summer, some Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout protesting Zuckerberg's decision to allow the president to post a statement on the platform endorsing violence against George Floyd protesters.

"These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won't let that happen," Trump wrote in social media posts.

"Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you!"

Zuckerberg addressed some of those criticisms in Thursday morning’s post.

“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,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg said Trump’s statements in support of the rioters who stormed the Capital on Wednesday were removed because “their effect — and likely their intent” was to incite violence.

“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,” Zuckerberg said.

“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.”