MARK ZUCKERBERG HAS announced Facebook and Instagram have blocked Donald Trump’s accounts “indefinitely” following yesterday’s unrest at the Capitol Buildings in Washington DC.
In a statement released this afternoon, Zuckerberg said: “We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”
Yesterday, protesters who believed the US election was “stolen” became a mob which broke into the Capitol building and occupied offices.
The violence also broke out as the US Senate and House was in the midst of approving the electoral college votes of all 50 states and rubber-stamping November’s election result.
One woman died of a bullet wound during the storming of the Capitol after being shot by police. Washington police Chief Robert Contee said three other people had died yesterday in the area around the Capitol, but did not link those deaths to the violence. The deaths were described as medical emergencies.
Twitter has already blocked Trump’s accounts and removed two tweets due to what they described as “violating Twitter rules”.
Zuckerberg said that the last 24 hours “clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden”.
He added that Trumps’ 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.
“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,” Zuckerberg added.
You can read the statement in full here.
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