Facebook has released a new set of rules in response to the series of event that took place in the United States of America (USA) Capitol building on Wednesday.
Facebook announced that Donald Trump, president of the USA will be locked out of his account for 24 hours after accessing the role his social media accounts played in escalating the violence.
“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 tweeted earlier on Thursday.
Twitter Safety also tweeted that Trump’s account was going to be locked for 12 hours after he removed the inciting tweets and if the tweets are not removed the account will remain locked.
“As a result of the unprecedented and ongoing violent situation in Washington, D.C., we have required the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets that were posted earlier today for repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy.
“This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked,” they wrote.
Before now, technology companies, Facebook and Twitter have been accused of allowing Trump to incite violence along with supporters. Although Twitter and Facebook flagged disputable tweets, they have never taken drastic measures such as stopping Donald Trump from posting.
Akilah Hughes, a podcast host, wrote on her Twitter handle, “YouTube is complicit. Facebook is complicit. Twitter is complicit.”
Alphabet Incorporated, the owner of YouTube has not commented so far on the situation.
Others have decried the act by the Big Techs as fascist and a denial of free speech.
“This is fascism,” Mike Dice wrote.
Facebook also said that the group of people who rushed into the Capitol Wednesday now fall under the company’s policies on “dangerous individuals and organizations” — a designation it uses to enforce rules against terrorists, mass murderers and violent hate groups.
Facebook and Instagram have both begun blocking content posted to the #StormTheCapitol hashtag. Facebook says that it is in the process of removing any content praising the Trump supporters who infiltrated the U.S. Capitol as well as any other “incitement or encouragement” of Wednesday’s events, including photos and videos from the individuals’ perspectives, Tech Crunch reported.