Facebook bans Donald Trump for 2 years, may return during US presidential elections

“Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife,” Trump responds.

Social media giant Facebook has announced that it will keep former US President Donald Trump’s account suspended for about 2 years until January 2023. In a separate announcement, the company also said that it has now changed its policy to deal with world leaders who break the platform’s rules. Trump slammed Facebook’s decision to extend the suspension and termed it censorship and an insult to his voters.

It may be recalled that Donald Trump had been banned from all major social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube following his alleged involvement in the US Capitol riots on 6 January 2021.

Nick Clegg, head of global affairs at Facebook, said, “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.”

Ever since Trump’s account was banned, social media companies have faced a dilemma on how to handle accounts of world leaders who violate their rules. Facebook, on Friday, provided some clarity on the issue. It has now decided to change its 2019 policy which said that “speech from politicians is inherently of public interest.” Mark Zuckerberg owned platform will now take action against politicians who violate its rules just like it does for other users. World leaders who incite violence or civil war through their posts can be restricted from a period of one month to two years, according to Facebook.

Donald Trump reacted strongly to Facebook’s decision. “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,” he said in a statement.

For now, Trump’s account has been banned till January 2023. This means that he may be able to return to the platform well in time for the 2024 presidential elections in the US. He has also indicated his intention to launch a new social media site.

Recently, Facebook had set up an oversight board, an independent group of academics, to rule on some controversial decisions including Trump’s ban. In May 2021, the board had upheld Facebook’s decision to ban the ex-president but had also termed it wrong to ban him ‘indefinitely’.

Facebook has said that it will work with experts and decide to restore Trump’s account once the risk of allowing him back had subsided.

 

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