Sacha Baron Cohen: Trump ban is "most important moment in the history of social media"
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Sacha Baron Cohen has called Donald Trump‘s new social media ban “the most important moment in the history of social media”.
Last night (January 8), the outgoing US President’s Twitter account was suspended indefinitely, after Mark Zuckerburg announced earlier this week that his Facebook and Instagram accounts would be blocked at least until after Joe Biden‘s inauguration on January 20.
“This is the most important moment in the history of social media,” Baron Cohen wrote on Twitter, alongside a photo of Trump inside the White House.
“The world’s largest platforms have banned the world’s biggest purveyor of lies, conspiracies and hate. To every Facebook and Twitter employee, user and advocate who fought for this–the entire world thanks you!”
This is the most important moment in the history of social media.
The world’s largest platforms have banned the world's biggest purveyor of lies, conspiracies and hate.
To every Facebook and Twitter employee, user and advocate who fought for this–the entire world thanks you! pic.twitter.com/jihFaOA39G
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) January 9, 2021
Trump’s social media ban comes after a mob of his supporters managed to force their way into the Capitol building on Thursday (January 7) following a rally to contest the results of November’s election.
Announcing the ban, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg condemned the “shocking events” in Washington DC. He said in a statement: “[Donald 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 US and around the world.
“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great.”
Trump’s Twitter account was then suspended for 12 hours in the wake of the violence in Washington DC, and that ban has now been made permanent.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them,” the Twitter Safety account wrote, “we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
