This post was originally published on this site
Facebook Inc. on Friday said former President Donald Trump’s account will be suspended for at least two years, and would only be reinstated if conditions permit.
The bombshell news came as Facebook
FB,
ended its longtime hands-off approach to politicians’ posts. The company initially suspended Trump for vitriolic remarks following the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol, but a review of the decision by the company’s oversight board suggested that Facebook address its policies on politicians and give more clarity on what will happen to Trump’s account.
“We are today announcing new enforcement protocols to be applied in exceptional cases such as this, and we are confirming the time-bound penalty consistent with those protocols which we are applying to Mr. Trump’s accounts,” Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Facebook, said in a blog post Friday.
“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension, we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols,” Clegg wrote. “We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year.”
In an emailed statement, Trump called Facebook’s ruling “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!”
The move is significant for Facebook, who for years has withstood withering criticism for giving politicians — in particular Trump — more lenient treatment despite comments, links, videos, and images that clearly crossed the line. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg went so far as to argue the company should not police the comments of elected officials.
But things changed significantly in January after an attempted insurrection at the Capitol by followers of Trump that was stoked by comments from the former president made on Facebook and Twitter Inc.
TWTR,
(Trump was permanently booted from Twitter this year.)
Facebook indefinitely blocked Trump’s ability to post and referred its decision to the Oversight Board. In May, the board called on Facebook to “address widespread confusion about how decisions relating to influential users are made.” The board gave Facebook 30 days to respond to its recommendations, and six months to complete its review of Trump’s account.
“In establishing the two year sanction for severe violations, we considered the need for it to be long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement, to be significant enough to be a deterrent to Mr. Trump and others from committing such severe violations in future, and to be proportionate to the gravity of the violation itself,” Clegg wrote in Friday’s post.
Trump’s extended ouster from Facebook not only hurts his ability to raise money via the platform but could derail any plans he may have to run for office again. But his actions forced Facebook to take a bold — and overdue — experts say.
“Facebook is doing the right thing after Trump spent the second half of 2020 abusing social media to undermine democratic institutions such as elections and the peaceful transfer of power,” Paul Barrett, deputy director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, told MarketWatch. “Facebook saw that situation, saw we were in a dangerous situation as a society, and said this is over the line. In two years, maybe things will be calmer.”
Added David Brody, who heads the Digital Justice Initiative at Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: “Former President Trump should be banned permanently, not just suspended from Facebook for his actions. He used Facebook to endanger our democracy, empower hateful violence, and promote racial division. Many of the changes and actions that Facebook is now implementing are things that advocates called for years ago.”
