Banned, bigly

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( Hi, it’s Josh. After four years of agonizing, [Facebook finally banned President Donald Trump.]( All it took was the president posting a video expressing his love for the armed extremists who had breached the U.S. Capitol and were wandering the halls of Congress unrestrained. The ban, which includes Instagram, will keep Trump from using his account at least until he leaves office—effectively ending the debate over what the social media giant should do about this uniquely belligerent president. Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in an online statement that Trump had violated the company’s rules before, but added that "the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government.” The company’s dramatic decision was echoed by other tech giants: Amazon.com Inc.'s streaming video service [Twitch]( and online commerce platform [Shopify Inc.]( also booted the president, while Twitter Inc. suspended his account for 12 hours. Trump returned to the platform on Thursday, using it to post [a video]( that was the closest he's come to conceding the election. Yet while the companies' move to de-platform Trump was unprecedented, by the time they acted, the chance of serious pushback had dwindled to basically nothing. Trump was a lame duck even before inciting the rioters. And public officials from [both parties]( have been calling for Trump to be removed immediately from office. The hardest decisions may still lie ahead. While there are unique issues that come with someone who is both so prominent and so reckless, not every abuse is as straightforward as a public figure egging on violence in real time. Most cases Facebook Inc. will deal with in the future aren’t as clear cut as having a president repeat risible conspiracy theories about election fraud for weeks on end. Because conflict over social media has become so central to political discourse during the Trump presidency, the political right has developed an effective playbook for making platforms suffer any time they take action against any speech with a conservative slant. The next round of politicians and activists using social media to mislead or incite may do so without Trump’s brazenness, and their base will respond forcefully to any attempts by social media platforms to draw the line. Facebook has demonstrated itself to be sensitive to such pressure over the course of the Trump presidency, though that dynamic could evolve during the coming period of Democratic control. A lot of the damage has already been done. Extremists like those involved with the QAnon conspiracy movement may now be restricted in their ability to communicate freely on Facebook, but the riot at the Capitol shows they’ve reached critical mass. Communities that already exist can still organize on alternative social networks like Parler, or through encrypted channels on Facebook and elsewhere. Their impact on U.S. politics isn’t a problem that can be solved by better content moderation policies. Facebook and Twitter's decision to temporarily silence the president may help this terrifying week from getting any worse, but it has hardly solved the problem with online political extremism that Trump has exposed. At best, they’ve run out the clock. —[Joshua BrusteinÂ](mailto:jbrustein@bloomberg.net) If you read one thing Elon Musk is now the world's richest person. The Tesla chief's net worth [surged past]( that of Amazon's Jeff Bezos on Thursday as the carmaker's shares surged. Paid Post While AI continues to advance the construction industry, these strides remain fairly unnoticed. In 2021, AI for construction will pick up momentum as it tackles the industry’s most fundamental problems such as worker safety, project tracking, and the labor shortage. [Learn More>>]( PROCORE And here’s what you need to know in global technology news Apple's self-driving car project is still in its [early stages]( and a car is at least a half-decade away from a launch. Robinhood might sell some of its shares to its users when it goes [public this year](. SoFi is planning to go public through a SPAC. [The CEO says]( he wants to do more acquisitions. Bitcoin surged past $40,000 on Thursday before diving again, during [a volatile day]( for cryptocurrencies. Amazon Prime Pantry is [no more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022