Facebook Extends Ban on Trump Posts ‘Indefinitely’

President Donald Trump is losing his social-media megaphone after encouraging the rioters that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Facebook Inc. said it was extending a ban on Trump’s posts “indefinitely,” or for at least two weeks, until Joe Biden takes office. Snap Inc. has also banned the president from its site until further notice, while Twitter has the president on a 12-hour hold after requiring him to delete tweets that supported the rioters.

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a post Thursday. The restrictions in place will be extended “until the peaceful transition of power is complete.” President-Elect Biden is to be sworn in on Jan. 20.

Facebook’s move extended an initial 24-hour ban -- its first-ever ban on the president -- on both Facebook and Instagram. Twitter Inc. asked Trump to remove three tweets, including one video message of Trump expressing love for the insurgents and calling the election “fraudulent.” Twitter warned at the time that Trump could receive a “permanent suspension” if he continued to break the rules.

On YouTube, if Trump makes false claims about the election in another video, he’ll get a “strike,” which will temporarily prevent him from uploading new content or live-streaming, a spokesperson said. Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from the site.

The events in Washington Wednesday caused public outrage, much of it targeted at social media companies, who were blamed for providing the president with a platform to incite violence. Trump used Twitter as well as other social media providers, including Facebook and Google’s YouTube, to urge supporters to protest and remained silent for hours as the mob scene grew dangerous.

For years, social media critics have called on the companies to get tougher on Trump. Twitter and Facebook had previously removed some of the president’s content or put it behind a warning screen if it contained misinformation or incendiary language, but neither company had ever completely suspended his account, saying his messages had inherent news value.

Zuckerberg said that although the company has allowed Trump’s posts with few restrictions for years, the current context is “fundamentally different.”

Trump’s 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 U.S. and around the world,” Zuckerberg said. The social network removed those statements because they judged their effect and “likely their intent” would be to provoke further violence.

“These isolated actions are both too late and not nearly enough,” Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, said in a statement Thursday. “These platforms have served as core organizing infrastructure for violent, far right groups and militia movements for several years now.” Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, called on Twitter to extend its ban on Trump for at least 13 days, until after inauguration, “in the interest of public safety.”

The sanctions against Trump started to spread beyond social media on Thursday. Shopify Inc., an e-commerce platform, said it pulled all digital stores affiliated with Trump, including the official retail site of the Trump Organization, Trumpstore.com offline.

“Shopify does not tolerate actions that incite violence,” a spokeswoman said by email. Trump’s actions violate the company’s Acceptable Use Policy, “which prohibits promotion or support of organizations, platforms or people that threaten or condone violence to further a cause,” she said. “As a result, we have terminated stores affiliated with President Trump.”

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