Facebook announced this Friday that the suspension of former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will be extended for two years.
Trump had already been indefinitely excluded from both social networks in January as a result of the publications he made about the assault on the US Capitol, which occurred during the certification of the results of the November elections 2020, in which Democrat Joe Biden won.
But in May, the Board Supervision of Facebook criticized that the sanction against Trump was indefinite.
Facebook said this Friday that the actions of the former Republican president were “a serious violation of the rules” of the platform.
Trump responded that the suspension was “an insult” to the millions of Americans who voted for him in November.
In addition to announcing this decision, Facebook also said that would put end the exception that protected politicians from some content moderation rules .
The social network announced that it no longer would give them immunity for misleading or abusive content under the excuse that their comments could be newsworthy.
What did Facebook say?
Trump’s suspension will be counted from the date of the initial sanction, on January 7, said Facebook vice president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, in a statement released this Friday.
“Given the seriousness of the circumstances that led to Trump’s suspension, we believe that his actions constituted a serious violation of our rules that deserve the highest penalty available,” he added.
“If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a certain period of time and we will continue to re-evaluate it until that risk has diminished ”, he also said.
Furthermore, upon his return, should he commit any other violation of the rules, Trump will be subject to “a strict set of sanctions that would escalate rapidly,” according to Clegg.
How did Trump respond?
In a statement issued by his Save America political action committee, Trump said on Friday that “Facebook’s failure is an insult to the 76 Millions of record-breaking people, plus many others, who voted for us… ”
“ They should not be allowed to get away with this censorship and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our country can no longer bear this abuse! ”, He added.
In a second statement about the two-year suspension, Trump attacked the founder of Facebook.
“The next time I am in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, ”said the former president. “Everything will be business!”
Facebook’s decision allows Trump to return to the platform before the presidential elections of 2023.
Now he is preparing to hold the rallies in person again at large scale that he used to organize during his campaigns and presidency. One of the first is planned in Dallas, Texas, in early July, according to local media.
Earlier this week, From the Desk of Donald J. Trump, the communication platform established by Trump as a result of his suspensions in social networks, closed permanently.
In addition to Facebook, which has more than 2, 000 million monthly users, Trump also was kicked out of Twitter, YouTube , Snapchat, Twitch and other social media platforms in the wake of the Capitol riots in January.
In May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, an ally Republican Trump, signed the first law in the US that sanctions companies d e technology for expelling politicians.
“This is a great decision”
Analysis by Amol Rajan, Media editor
Facebook’s dilemma over Trump was complex and guaranteed to upset millions of people. The fact is, whatever the decision was, it was meant to polarize people.
But to be clear: today Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has denied you access to your megaphone to a man they voted for 74 millions of people. They didn’t just know or approve of him. They voted for him to be president of the U.S. That’s a big decision.
What is the new Facebook policy?
Facebook said that public figures who violate its rules by inciting riots or violence will be suspended for a month or, in more serious cases, up to two years.
This measure is part of an effort to undo the Previous policy that allowed a political speech to be newsworthy, despite the possibility that it may cause harm.
Posts deemed worthy of an exception, despite possible violations, may still be be allowed, but Facebook will put a warning label on them. The company says it will no longer treat “content posted by politicians differently” .
“Instead, we will simply apply our test of balance newsworthiness in the same way to all content, measuring whether the content’s public interest value outweighs the potential risk of harm, ”he notes.
The company’s Oversight Board determined that Trump’s initial suspension was appropriate, but that there was no reason for the ban to be maintained indefinitely.
- The 65 days leading up to the assault on the Washington Capitol
The independent board, funded by Facebook, has 20 members who can make binding decisions about the content of the platform. Members include lawyers, journalists, freedom of expression experts and a former prime minister of Denmark.
Trump’s suspension was announced on the same day that regulatory authorities in Europe and the United Kingdom began an antitrust investigation to determine whether Facebook misused customer data.
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