Facebook announced on Friday that President Trump’s suspension from the platform will be for two years, marking January 7, 2023 as his reinstatement date so long as the “experts” determine the “risk to public safety has receded,” according to Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg.
“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,” wrote Clegg in a blog post. “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. 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 this period, Clegg explained Facebook officials will reassess whether there is a continued risk to public safety before determining whether Trump’s account will be reinstated.
“We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest. 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,” Clegg added.
Of course, no such standard has been established for Democratic Facebook users such as Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senator Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), or ex-NFL player Colin Kapernick, all of whom applauded and encouraged the Antifa/BLM violence that plagued most of last year and has continued well into this one.
Clegg explained that Trump’s accounts, if reinstated, would be subject to “a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered” if there are future violations, which could result in permanent removal of his accounts.
Last month, Facebook’s quasi-independent Oversight Board announced that the ban on the former president from Facebook and Instagram was acceptable, but that the “indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension” was “not appropriate.” The board determined Facebook must create “clear, necessary, and proportionate policies that promote public safety and respect freedom of expression.”
The board said Facebook should take the next six months to review the case and decide whether its ban will be permanent or last a specific length of time, MSN reported.
Friday’s decision is in response to those instructions.
“The Oversight Board’s decision is accountability in action,” Clegg said. “It is a significant check on Facebook’s power, and an authoritative way of publicly holding the company to account for its decisions. It was established as an independent body to make binding judgments on some of the most difficult content decisions Facebook makes, and to offer recommendations on how we can improve our policies.”
“As today’s announcements demonstrate,” added Clegg, “we take its recommendations seriously and they can have a significant impact on the composition and enforcement of Facebook’s policies.”
Clegg defended the company’s decision as “fair, transparent, and proportionate” on ABC’s This Week with George Stephenopoulos on Sunday.
“We understand that making a decision like this is controversial. It’s shouted out, if you like, from both sides, from those people who feel Donald Trump should be back on the platform immediately and from those who say he should be banned forever. It receives criticism from all sides,” Clegg said.
Meanwhile, Twitter’s ban of Trump’s account in the aftermath of the largely peaceful Capitol protests on January 6 was permanent, with Twitter claiming the account posed a risk of “further incitement of violence.”
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said in a statement. “In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.”
The platform also permanently deleted the accounts of Trump loyalists attorney Sidney Powell and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.
President Trump criticized Facebook’s decision in a Friday statement, the Daily Wire reported.
“Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others,” Trump said. “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!”
