Following the violence which took place in Washington DC, Donald Trump has been banned from Facebook and Instagram indefinitely.
Trump was accused by the founder of Facebook and Instagram for inciting violent insurrection against a democratically elected government using his platforms.
This means that Mr Trump would not be able to use the platforms for “two weeks until there's a peaceful transition of power” says Mark Zuckerberg.
According to the Facebook and Instagram Chief, the decision was taken “because of the degree to which the risk of the president using their services would incur”
The head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said he is following Zuckerberg's move.
Social Media which including Facebook has been under intense scrutiny in the wake of posts made by the president.
A celebrity investor, Chris Sacca was quoted saying Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, the Twitter Chief have “blood on their hands” in the event of the riots in Washington DC, and that his accounts with them be shut down.
In recent times Mr Trump was allowed to post messages on both Facebook and Twitter which would have led to other users being censured and removed entirely. Mr Zuckerberg allowed it because it was an attempt to preserve “access to political speech,” even though it was controversial, but things have changed now.
Trump has been allowed to use the platforms in a manner which is consistent with their own rules, sometimes labeling his posts or removing the content entirely, when it violate their policies.
Trump was allowed because they believed that the public had the right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even if they are controversial. But this time the context is fundamentally different because he used the platforms to incite a violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.
The Facebook and Instagram account of the president had been banned for a day with respect to a post where he was seen to praise the rioters. A video of him surfaced where he told the rioters “we love you” and said those involved where “very special”.
The account of the president remains public, but the president would no longer be allowed to post to it. Same applies to the official Instagram account of the president.
To add to the restrictions of the president accounts, there would be restrictions of groups associated with the president in an attempt to stop hateful content and conspiracy theories.
Thanks to independent.co.uk