Facebook barred outgoing US President Donald Trump (pictured) from its platform indefinitely following a violent protest in the capital on 6 January, citing concerns he might use its services to undermine the handover of power to successor Joe Biden on 20 January.

In a post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company hitherto permitted Trump’s posts because “the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech”, but added its services were now being used to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government”.

Zuckerberg said it concluded the risks of allowing President Trump to continue using its platform were “simply too great”, and banned him from Facebook and Instagram indefinitely, but at least until the end of his term.

Trump supporters broke into the Capitol Building and disrupted Congress as politicians were voting to certify the US election result.

Facebook originally banned President Trump for 24 hours, and Twitter for 12 hours.