Capital Hill Siege: Facebook, Twitter ban President Trump’s account

Social Media platforms, Facebook and Twitter have suspended the accounts of President Donald Trump over messages it said were promoting violence as his supporters stormed the US Capitol Hill.

The sanctions came as a result of the President making a series of false claims, which included a short video about the election he lost to Joe Biden, saying the election was stolen from him.

Facebook said “We made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of ongoing violence”.

According to a report on AFP, the California-based social media giant says it was handing Trump “a 24-hour feature block” preventing him from posting.

Twitter blocked Trump earlier on Wednesday and threatened a permanent ban for breaking its rules with his false claims about the elections.

Most of Trump’s Twitter messages appear simultaneously on Facebook, where they are spread widely among followers through sharing and commenting. The company recently started labelling misleading Trump posts with links to further context, such as information about Biden’s election win, but has generally allowed users to continue to share and react to his posts until Wednesday’s temporary ban.

According to another report on Bloomberg, Twitter has been Trump’s preferred way to disseminate information directly to the public. Since November, Trump has posted regularly without evidence that the presidential election was “rigged.”

However, Twitter has previously labelled dozens of Trump’s posts as disputed or misleading and Facebook flagged misleading election posts by pointing users to trusted news sites, but Wednesday was the first time the president has been kicked off either platform even temporarily.

Twitter threatened to ban Trump entirely if he continues to break the rules.

The video that Trump was asked to remove on Twitter showed the president addressing rioters at the U.S. Capitol. Trump told them to “go home,” but also called the election result “fraudulent.”

Twitter shares fell about 2% in extended trading after the company’s announcement. Facebook shares were a little changed.