As a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol with little police resistance on Wednesday, President Donald Trump posted a video to social media telling the “very special” rioters that he loves them, and doubling down on the false claim that he actually won reelection.
“I know your pain. I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us,” he said, from the safety of the White House as members of congress and Vice President Pence sheltered in place at the Capitol. “It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side, but you have to go home now. …We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home at peace.”
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube removed the video shortly after it was posted, and on Thursday morning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg followed up by announcing that Trump would be banned from that platform as well as from Instagram for at least the rest of his term, which ends in just 13 days.
“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,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. “We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. 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.”
The announcement was met with indignation from the Parler crowd stamping its feet about freedom of speech, and a cavalcade of eye rolls from everyone else. Besides the distinct feeling that the move is too little, way too late, some observers are pointing out that Zuck could have an ulterior motive.
Lawyer and political author Teri Kanefield
noted in a tweet that Zuckerberg’s announcement happens to coincide with Democrats gaining control of the Senate with the election of Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the Georgia runoffs on Tuesday. “While I’m sure the events yesterday were part of the motivation, I’d bet the complete motivation was shocking events + Democratic control of the Senate = Zuckerberg’s fear of regulations that deprive him of the ability to spread lies when he wants to (for fun and profit),” she wrote.
As the New York Times points out, Facebook allowed Trump to violate its rules of engagement for years with impunity: “For years, Mr. Zuckerberg and other executives at Facebook had given Mr. Trump significant leeway on his Facebook account, often allowing the president’s false statements to stay up on the network despite heavy criticism. Mr. Zuckerberg has repeatedly said he did not want Facebook to be ‘the arbiter of truth’ in political discourse and that he believed strongly in protecting speech across Facebook, the platform he founded that is now used by more than three billion people globally.”
Trump has 35 million followers on Facebook and 88 million on Twitter. The latter platform suspended the president’s account for 12 hours yesterday, but has not committed to shutting down his account until a peaceful transfer of power has occurred.
RELATED: Views from Inside the Pro-Trump Insurrection at the Capitol Building
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The post With Mere Days Left in His Presidency, Facebook Blocks Donald Trump appeared first on Los Angeles Magazine.
