Facebook locks out Donald Trump for 24 hours

We’ve assessed two policy violations against President Trump’s Page which will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post on the platform during that time.

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January 7, 2021

The move comes after Twitter temporarily suspended Trump and threatened a permanent ban. The president had previously posted a video to both platforms that called the election results “fraudulent” and praised his supporters as “very special” people.

Facebook had previously removed the video, with the company’s VP of Integrity Guy Rosen saying they had done so because “we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.” But by preventing Trump from being able to post to his page for a full day is yet another escalation for Facebook, whose officials have spent much of Trump’s presidency trying to avoid applying its rules to him.

In an earlier statement, Facebook officials said they were “appalled by the violence at the Capitol,” and “treating these events as an emergency.” The company said it “searching for and removing” a wide range of posts, including content praising the mob that attacked the Capitol, calls for protests that would break the local curfew in D.C., and “attempts to restage violence tomorrow or in the coming days.”

Facebook also said it planned to tweak the labels it has been applying to election-related posts. “Joe Biden has been elected President with results that were certified by all 50 states,” the new message says. “The US has laws, procedures, and established institutions to ensure the peaceful transfer of power after an election.” The company also announced new restrictions on some activity in its groups feature, including the automatic disabling of comments on posts that encourage hate speech or violence.