Selena Gomez calls out social media CEOs for ‘failing the American people’ after Capitol riots

Twitter and Facebook have temporarily locked Donald Trump’s accounts

Selena Gomez has condemned major social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, accusing them of “failing the American people” in the wake of the storming of the Capitol Building.

On Wednesday (6 January), pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol Building in Washington DC in a bid to interrupt the Electoral College Certification process.

Government officials were quickly evacuated from the Senate Chambers and the siege resulted in a total of four deaths.

The riots came after Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims on social media that he had won the election, not Joe Biden.

During the siege, Trump also posted a video asking those involved to go home, while calling them “very special”. He also said “we love you”. 

Gomez has now called on social media giants to “fix things moving forward”. In a message posted to Twitter, the singer called out Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google by name as well as their CEOs and most senior employees.

“Today is the result of allowing people with hate in their hearts to use platforms that should be used to bring people together and allow people to build community,” she wrote. “Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Jack Dorsey, Sundar Pichai, Susan Wojcicki — you have all failed the American people today and I hope you're going to fix things moving forward.”

Celebrities are calling upon Twitter and Facebook to permanently ban Donald Trump from posting messages.

The social media sites have locked his accounts – Twitter for 12 hours, Facebook for 24 hours – with the former promising to block him for good if he breaks its rules again.