Former President Donald Trump has been suspended from Facebook for at least two years after his ‘praise for people engaged in’ the deadly January 6 Capitol Riot.
The social media giant in a company blog post on Friday, June 4, disclosed a time frame for Trump’s account suspension for the first time since banning the ex-president in January.
‘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,’ wrote Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs.
‘We are suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7 this year.’
At the end of the two-year suspension, Facebook said it would consult with experts to decide ‘whether the risk to public safety has receded’.
‘We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,’ Clegg wrote. ‘If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to re-evaluate until that risk has receded.’
The post continues that ‘when the suspension is eventually lifted, there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Mr Trump commits further violations in future’. Those sanctions include permanent removal of his accounts and pages.
Trump on Friday slammed Facebook’s decision as ‘an insult’ to his supporters.
‘They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win,’ Trump stated. ‘Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!’
Facebook’s ruling comes after criticism last month from its Independent Oversight Board over the open-ended nature of the suspension. The board instructed Facebook to evaluate its decision to indefinitely ban Trump and follow its policy of limited timed suspensions or permanent removals.
The decision comes two days after the ex-president permanently shut down his blog ‘From the Desk of Donald J Trump’, just 29 days after launching it. The blog that housed Trump’s statements allowed visitors to click a button and share them on Facebook and Twitter, both which have banned him.
Trump’s blog on its last day garnered just 1,500 shares or comments on Facebook and Twitter, an exponential drop from his engagement on the popular social media platforms. Trump had 88million Twitter followers and 32million on Facebook. A Trump adviser said the ex-president pulled the plug on the blog because he was infuriated by the low traffic.
Facebook on Friday also ended its policy of treating politicians’ posts differently from those of other users. It will no longer give politicians exemptions from its content rules and enforce a ‘strikes system’.
(Metro UK)