Mark Zuckerberg announces that Facebook has blocked Trump from accessing his accounts 'indefinitely'

Facebook has blocked President Trump from accessing his accounts "indefinitely" following the events that unfolded at the Capitol on Wednesday.

"The shocking events of the last 24 hours hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transfer of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden," founder Mark Zuckerberg explained in a post.

He added that "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."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

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

On Wednesday, Facebook also removed a video of Trump tepidly calling for his supporters to back down, with the company explaining that it believed the footage "contributes to, rather than diminishes, the risk of ongoing violence." Twitter likewise locked Trump's account for 12 hours, citing three tweets that were "severe" violations of the company's civil integrity policy, and threatening "permanent suspension" if the president of the United States violates the company's civic integrity or violent threats policies again.

Read Facebook's full statement below. Jeva Lange