Facebook says risk to US democracy resulted in ban on Donald Trump

12 Jan 2021 12:09 PM
Image: Collected
US President Donald Trump’s Facebook profile was suspended as a result of the threat to US democracy, the social press giant’s chief operating officer said.

Sheryl Sandberg said there was no plan to lift up the indefinite block on the departing president, which will last at least until his successor, Joe Biden, is inaugurated next week.

The move to stop Mr Trump posting on Facebook followed the US Capitol storming by his supporters the other day, after his numerous, unfounded claims of electoral fraud.

But some accused social media networks of restricting freedom of speech.

“We have evidently established principles that tell you you cannot call for violence,” Ms Sandberg explained at the Reuters Next conference.

She said posts that were doing so were removed immediately.

“In this instant, the risk to your democracy was too big,” Ms Sandberg said.

“We felt we'd to have the unprecedented stage of what is an indefinite ban. And I’m happy we did.”

Facebook has not followed Twitter to summarize Mr Trump’s account, but said it does not have any plans to lift up the suspension soon.

Ms Sandberg said the program had clamped straight down on posts, such as those linked to the far-best suited group QAnon, that needed violence found in the lead-up to the protests that preceded the storming of the Capitol.

She said many events were organised in social media platforms that didn't have the same degree of regulation as Facebook.