Following the protests in Washington, D.C., Facebook and Instagram have decided to block US President Donald Trump’s accounts. This ban will likely last until President Trump leaves office.
Facebook and Instagram Clamp Down on Trump
During the protests on January 6, 2021, Facebook made the decision to lock Trump’s account for 24 hours, taking away his ability to create posts.
We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.
— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021
The platform stated that it “assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page,” resulting in the lockdown. Instagram also sent out a Tweet, saying that it would be recognizing the 24-hour ban as well.
However, this short ban on Trump’s account was quickly exchanged for something more long-term. Mark Zuckerberg created a post on Facebook, announcing an indefinite ban on President Trump’s Instagram and Facebook accounts.
In his post, Zuckerberg criticized Trump’s actions, saying that Facebook allowed his controversial content to exist on the platform for years. Zuckerberg said that he didn’t remove this kind of content in the past because he believes “that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech.”
Now, Zuckerberg has changed his tune. He stated that “the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”
For that reason, Zuckerberg decided to extend the suspension “for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.” This means that we might not see Trump back on these platforms until the end of January 2021.
A post on the Facebook Newsroom also addressed the protests in Washington D.C. Here, the platform once again reiterated that Trump’s posts “contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence.” It also noted that it was “appalled by the violence at the Capitol,” and that it was “treating these events as an emergency.”
Twitter took action on Trump’s account as well. While Twitter first responded by labeling a number of Trump’s Tweets during the protests, it later removed them for violating its Civic Integrity Policy. Twitter also subsequently suspended Trump’s account, barring him from communicating with followers.
By the time Trump is allowed to return to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, President-elect Joe Biden will likely already be in office. And when Trump is no longer a political figure, social platforms can hold Trump accountable for the content he posts.
This means that Trump’s accounts could be subject to permanent bans. It doesn’t seem all too unlikely now, as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are edging closer to permanent expulsion.
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