Facebook on Thursday blocked the United States President, Donald Trump, from the platform for at least two weeks.
The development means the president will be unable to post on Facebook and Instagram until after the handover of power to President-elect, Joe Biden on January 20.
The social network had originally imposed a 24-hour ban after the president’s supporters caused a riot at Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Twitter had earlier suspended President Trump for 12 hours over “severe violations of its civic integrity policy.”
Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a statement that the risks of allowing Trump to post on its platform “are simply too great.”
In a video posted to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the president backed the rioters attacking the seat of government.
He also repeated false claims about election fraud.
Zuckerberg said Facebook removed the president’s posts “because of fear they would provoke further violence.”
He said: “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.”
