Additional reporting from Reuters
Facebook Inc and Instagram will extend a ban on U.S. President Donald Trump's accounts for at least the next two weeks until the presidential transition is completed, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said.
Twitter Inc, Facebook, and Snap Inc temporarily locked Trump's accounts on Wednesday, as tech giants scrambled to crack down on his baseless claims about the U.S. presidential election and hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
In the full post he said: "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.
“Following the certification of the election results by Congress, the priority for the whole country must now be to ensure that the remaining 13 days and the days after inauguration pass peacefully and in accordance with established democratic norms.”
He said over the last several years, they have allowed President Trump to use their platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labelling posts when they violate their policies,
Mr Zuckerberg said they believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech.
He added “But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.”
