Facebook on Friday suspended former US President Donald Trump until at least January 2023 and announced changes to how it would deal with world leaders who break the rules on its site.
Facebook had suspended Trump’s account the day after the January 6 massacre at Capitol Hill, making it clear he was responsible for the violence.
The suspension will last for at least two years from the first closing date and will only be lifted if public safety risk is reduced, Facebook said on Friday.
Trump has criticized the decision as a way to prevent and insult his voters.
This new timeline forbids Republican Trump’s mass media megaphone ahead of the November 2022 general election. However, it does mean he can return to Facebook well before the next presidential election in late 2024.
Trump has been permanently banned by Twitter and continues to be suspended by YouTube for the Alphabet after the violence. Trump, who this week closed his newly launched blog, has joked about plans to start his own platform.
“Given the magnitude of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his action was a violation of our laws in the right way, and deserved the highest penalty under the new treaties,” Facebook head Nick Clegg said in a statement. .
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The governing body of Facebook, an independent group sponsored by a company that controls a small portion of controversial content decisions, in May endorsed the company’s unprecedented blockade to Trump. However, the board ruled that it was wrong to abolish the law and called for an “equitable response.”
In a statement Friday, Trump criticized the decision and echoed allegations of voter fraud: “Facebook’s decision is a disgrace to the 75M record-makers, as well as many others, who voted for us in the 2020 presidential election.
it will no longer be able to deal with this abuse! “Many investigations found no evidence of electoral fraud.
Trump added, “Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinner, according to his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It’ll be just business!”
Facebook has said it will work with experts to determine when the public safety risk has been raised so that Trump can be reinstated.
It said it would investigate issues including incidents of violence, the ban on peaceful rallies and other signs of civil unrest.
It also said there would be a warning of an increase in sanctions that could be imposed if Trump violates other laws that could lead to his permanent removal.
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White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki, speaking to reporters, said in a Facebook post about Trump that he felt “there is little chance the zebra will change its lashes in the next two years, we’ll see.”
Policy changes
Social media companies have faced controversy over the years over how to deal with world leaders and politicians who violate their guidelines.
On Friday, the Nigerian government said it had permanently suspended Twitter activities in the country, two days after the company resigned from President Muhammadu Buhari and threatened to punish regional rebels.
A major change that has been part of Facebook’s response Friday to its board of directors, Facebook said it “removes the notion that we announced in 2019 that political rhetoric is a public affair.”
The company said it would now measure the offensive content from politicians by comparing the risk of injury in the same way it does for all users.
It will also state when it uses its “news eligibility” release.
However, a Facebook spokesman has confirmed that the post of politicians will always be excluded from the true third party investigation.
Facebook has been criticized by those who think it should abandon its policy of holding political discourse, but has also been criticized by those, including Republican lawmakers and other independent advocates, who see Trump’s ban as a disruptive act of research.
Its decision on Trump and new policy changes could have a profound effect on how Facebook treats the country’s lawless leaders and officials in its operations.
It said public figures that violated their rules by inciting or celebrating or continuing violence could be limited to one month to two years.
Social media companies have faced calls from other activist groups and activists for not being consistent in their dealings with other leaders who have violated or enforced their laws.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Leader Ali Khamenei, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and lawmakers from India’s ruling party have been targeted.
Facebook has also made it clear in its standard plan how many “strikes” users can get before the suspension, which usually lasts 30 days.
Trump’s case is seen as a test of how the company has responded to the decision and recommendations of its newly formed oversight board.
The board also commended Facebook for reviewing its role in the election fraud scandal that led to the January 6 siege, which Facebook will do in part in partnership with academics who participated in the 2020 US election.
Facebook claims to use 15 of the 19 board recommendations.
