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Donald Trump’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts have been suspended indefinitely over fears that his posts could incite further violence.
Trump drew criticism from both sides of politics for appearing to encourage violent protesters who stormed Capitol Hill earlier this week.
While Twitter has banned Trump permanently, his suspension from Facebook and Instagram could be lifted following the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
Trump’s ban from Facebook comes after he posted a video to the platform on the day of the Capitol Hill siege, in which he disputed the result of the 2020 US Presidential election. The video was deleted by moderators on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, where it was also posted.
“[Donald Trump’s] 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,” Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Thursday (January 8).
“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 shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining…
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday, January 7, 2021
Trump’s permanent Twitter ban comes after the social media platform requested that he remove three posts which contained “severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy” earlier this week.
While Trump complied with the request, Twitter drew attention to two subsequent tweets as grounds for removing the President from the platform permanently.
The first of the two tweets in question, both published on January 8, stated: “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!”
The departing President followed this tweet up with another, saying that “to all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
In a statement, the social media platform said the two tweets were “likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021” before banning Trump’s account.
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
In an apparent effort to dodge the ban, Trump later tweeted from the @POTUS government profile.
“We will not be SILENCED!” the departing President wrote in one of his tweets from the alternate account. The posts were swiftly deleted by Twitter.
Snapchat and Twitch have taken similar measures to restrict Trump’s content output, with both platforms reportedly cutting off access to his accounts.
As Trump’s account has been permanently deleted from Twitter, neither the account nor its tweets are accessible to other users. Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram profiles and their content are still viewable.
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