DONALD Trump has been blocked from using Facebook and Instagram “indefinitely and at least for the next two weeks”, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has said.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg wrote in a statement.
He wrote: “The shocking events of 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.
“His 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 removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence.”
Earlier today Twitter locked Donald Trump’s account for the first time and demanded he remove tweets excusing violence.
The site had earlier removed the retweet, like and reply functions on a video in which Trump addressed his supporters who had clashed with police in Washington DC forcing a lockdown at the US Capitol building.
READ MORE: Twitter locks Donald Trump’s account and threatens ‘permanent suspension’
In the video, the president told protesters that they “have to go home now”, adding “we don’t want anybody hurt”, but he also claimed that “this was a fraudulent election”.
Facebook’s vice president of integrity Guy Rosen, meanwhile, tweeted that Trump’s video had been removed entirely from their platform.
“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” he tweeted.
“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”
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