Image: Donald Trump / Facebook
On Thursday Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced the company is extending a block on President Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts "indefinitely" and at least for the next two weeks until a peaceful transition of power.The move is the culmination of years of social media platforms allowing Trump to spread misinformation and incite violence among his supporters."We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Zuckerberg said in a post on his own Facebook profile. "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."
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The longer term block comes after Trump incited supporters who then rioted throughout the Capitol. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter eventually deleted a lackluster video Trump uploaded telling supporters to "go home" but which continued to spread false claims that the election was stolen."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 U.S. 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 added."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," he said.On Wednesday Twitter said it would permanently suspend Trump's account if he breaks the site's rules again.Do you work at Facebook? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, OTR chat on jfcox@jabber.ccc.de, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.