[ad_1]
“We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue using our service during this time are just too great,” the Facebook CEO 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 move marks a major escalation from Facebook, as it and other platforms have come under intense pressure from advocacy groups and public figures to ban Trump over his inflammatory rhetoric encouraging insurgency .
Facebook and Twitter made the extraordinary decision on Wednesday to temporarily lock President Donald Trump’s account on their platforms after his supporters stormed the Capitol building in protest against the election.
If the latest restrictions hold, Facebook could be the first major platform to permanently remove Trump.
Facebook’s move is now raising expectations that Twitter, known to be the president’s favorite social media platform, will follow suit. Twitter confirmed that Trump deleted several tweets in order to regain his tweeting privileges on Thursday, although the company declined to say when specifically he could tweet again.
Twitter also said that “future violations … will result in the permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”
“There’s that element of all businesses wringing their hands until one of them takes a step, and then within minutes everyone does,” said Adam Sharp, former head of business. news, government and elections on Twitter. “Nobody wants to be first, and they take turns just to figure out who’s going to be the first to spend that time. Then they ‘Thelma and Louise’ do it and make the call.”
The underlying problem facing most tech platforms, he said, is that the severity of Trump’s misconduct goes far beyond corporate efforts to build standardized systems to punish them. bad behavior.
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 other way around.
Trump has shown that he “intends to use his remaining time in power to undermine the peaceful and legal transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg wrote.
Facebook has previously described the events surrounding Trump’s posts this week as an emergency. Now Zuckerberg has finally revealed where Facebook would draw the line for Trump – nothing less than a deadly assault on Congress.
Source link
