- The company said it wanted a suspension ‘long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement’ as well as to act as a deterrent
- Suspension starts from Jan. 7, 2021
- That means it will remain through the 2022 off-year elections where Trump is seeking to play a significant role
- It referenced ‘acts of incitement’ in reference to his comments on the platform around the time of the January 6th Capitol riot
- The blow comes after it was revealed Trump was taking down his own ‘From the Desk of Donald J. Trump’ web site after reports of slow traffic
- Details of suspension come as Trump continues to say the election was ‘stolen’
- Statement notes the oversight board criticized the ‘open-ended nature of the suspension’
- Longer ban can be avoided ‘if the risks to public safety has receded’
Facebook announced Friday that it would maintain its suspension of former President Donald Trump‘s participation in the social media site for two years – until January 2023 – but said he could return if he stopped committing ‘violations’.
Mark Zuckerberg handed the former president what he says was the company’s ‘highest penalty’ after the Facebook Oversight Board criticized the indefinite ban handed down after the Capitol riot.
And the former president responded first with a blistering statement, then with some online mockery.
‘Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!’ Trump wrote in a statement from his ‘Save America’ PAC. He blasted out his response by email, with Facebook and Twitter bans both in effect.
The company issued a detailed statement Friday spelling out the reason for its continuation of the ban – and acknowledging internal criticism that an ‘open-ended’ suspension that left the former president in limbo.
In May, Zuckerberg’s so-called ‘Supreme Court’ upheld the ban, but threw the decision back to Facebook executives to decide on the length of the suspension.
The decision came after the company’s Oversight Board announced in January that it had suspended Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, but had failed to provide an end-date.
The new statement acknowledged permanent removal was an option ‘if Mr. Trump commits further violations’ of its policies in the future.’
But the company also noted its Oversight Board had ‘criticized the open-ended nature of the suspension, stating that “it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.”‘
Trump initially responded to ruling with an angry statement, where he once again called the election ‘rigged’ – the kind of statement that earned him a series of warnings from social media giants before the Nov. 3 elections.
‘Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!’ Trump wrote.
Trump received 74 million votes in the national popular vote, compared to Biden’s 81 million, and lost to Biden in the Electoral College, which determines the winner of the presidency.
