Trump banned from Facebook indefinitely, Zuckerberg says

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday the social media giant is banning President Donald Trump indefinitely, marking a dramatic escalation of the conflict between Silicon Valley and the White House after Trump weaponized the web to help stoke a riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg wrote. “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.”

Facebook’s suspension marked the most aggressive penalty that any social media company has meted out to Trump over his four-year term, a period in which he has repeatedly peddled falsehoods, attacked critics and spread divisive rhetoric online. Twitter on Wednesday evening also suspended Trump for 12 hours for the first time, but the company’s blockade lifted Thursday morning, according to a person familiar with the discussions. By Thursday afternoon, the president had not yet tweeted.

The tech giants each took the rare aggressive steps after a violent mob stormed the House and Senate Wednesday, forcing lawmakers into a lockdown and briefly interrupting their formal process to certify Joseph Biden as the next president of the United States. In failing to act until after the deadly riot occurred, Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube have faced sharp criticism saying they should have done more, and sooner, to stop Trump from helping provoke the situation.

“While I’m pleased to see social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube take long-belated steps to address the President’s sustained misuse of their platforms to sow discord and violence, these isolated actions are both too late and not nearly enough,” said Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., in a statement. “Disinformation and extremism researchers have for years pointed to broader network-based exploitation of these platforms.”

Critics also noted that the moves by tech companies appeared politically expedient, coming as Democrats take full control of Congress and Trump prepares to depart the White House in 13 days.

“It has not escaped my attention that the day social media companies decided there actually IS more they could do to police Trump’s destructive behavior was the same day that they learned Democrats would chair all the Congressional committees that oversee them,” tweeted Jennifer Palmieri, Hillary Clinton’s former communications director.

At the outset of Trump’s term, Facebook and Twitter chose to make exceptions for the speech of public figures, allowing them to use troubling language that would otherwise violate their policies on hate speech and harassment. Those key decisions – made in the name of newsworthiness – enabled Trump and his allies to push the boundaries of political discourse online, helping him to build a powerful online movement and amass more than 88 million Twitter followers and more than 35 million on Facebook. Some of those supporters have ties to extreme far-right groups and conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, and flashed their insignia during Wednesday’s riot.

Trump has weaponized that audience repeatedly in the months leading up to the presidential election and its aftermath, peddling falsehoods that promote the idea that there has been rampant voter fraud. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube at times have taken action in response, but their attempts to label the president’s tweets as erroneous have largely not stopped their viral spread – or toned down the sort of political tensions that spilled out into public view this week.

Even though Facebook suspended Trump on Thursday, Pro-Trump pages and groups with tens of thousands of members – including one, called “Joe Biden is not my president,” which is hidden from public view – quickly mobilized in support. Some Facebook users blamed the Capitol riot on “antifa,” echoing Trump’s erroneous contention that left-leaning antagonists stoked the violence.