Twitter Permanently Suspends Donald Trump's Account to Prevent 'Further Incitement of Violence'

The president was indefinitely blocked from Facebook and Instagram on Thursday.

President Donald Trump has officially been banned from Twitter.

"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," shared a tweet from the verified @TwitterSafety account on Friday.

The action comes after Trump's Twitter account was temporarily locked on Wednesday following the riots from Trump's supporters at the Capitol -- during which Congress was in session to certify Joe Biden's win in November's presidential election -- and calls from many to prevent further incitement. In one of his final tweets, Trump shared a video in which he called for the rioters to go home, saying, "This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you, you’re very special."

On Thursday, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts were also being blocked "indefinitely." 

"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," Zuckerberg began in a post. "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." 

Noting that Facebook has allowed Trump to post in the past "consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies," Zuckerberg explained the decision, saying, "We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech." 

But the tech mogul went on to note that Facebook felt Trump was now using the platform to "incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government." 

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, 7 January 2021

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

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