He is running out of places to post.
As President Trump belatedly conceded defeat in the 2020 election — after lawmakers and, reportedly, his own cabinet members weighed how to remove him from office — he has found himself with ever-fewer avenues to speak out online, underscoring the power of internet giants and an abrupt shift in how they treat his behavior online. Facebook extended Mr. Trump’s ban from its platforms for at least two weeks, blocking him for the remainder of his term. “We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote in announcing the move. The breaking point was Wednesday’s unrest, he told employees. Mr. Trump regained access to Twitter after being locked out for 12 hours. Though the company had temporarily blocked the president on public safety grounds, its C.E.O., Jack Dorsey, made clear publicly that he wouldn’t follow through with more stringent measures — for now. Commentators speculated that the quasi-concession speech that Mr. Trump posted after the suspension may have been an effort to avoid permanent exile. He’s at risk of losing much of his influence without mainstream platforms. Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Twitter accounts were valuable assets from which to wage political battles and garner media coverage. Being consigned to much smaller networks like the conservative-leaning Parler and Gab “wouldn’t likely satisfy the president’s desire for a mass audience” and could leave him at a disadvantage should he try to remain a force in the Republican Party or run again for president in 2024, The Times’s Kevin Roose writes. That kind of power has some worried. Critics on the left and right have sought to curtail legal protections that shield internet platforms from liability for their users’ content, and the issue is sure to remain front and center when President-elect Joe Biden assumes office. That said, even Ajit Pai, the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, didn’t object to Facebook and Twitter blocking his boss. In other fallout from the Capitol mayhem: The Justice Department refused to rule out pursuing charges against Mr. Trump for his possible role in inciting the violence; more administration officials have resigned; and several companies fired employees who were spotted participating in the mob violence (and one firm suspended its C.E.O., who was arrested at the Capitol). The U.S. surpasses 4,000 Covid-19 deaths in a day. The country reported another grim record, putting its total death toll from the disease at over 365,400.
