Facebook Inc has banned former US President Donald Trump’s social media accounts for two years.
In January, both Instagram and Facebook barred him indefinitely because of the posts he made on the US Capitol riots. But recently, Facebook’s Oversight Board criticised the open-ended penalty.
Facebook believes that Mr Trump’s actions were “a severe violation of our rules”.
According to the former President, the move made by the company was “an insult” to the millions who voted for him in last year’s presidential election.
Being the social media giant, this was a crucial step as it also ends a policy protecting politicians from some content moderation rules.
It said that it would no longer give politicians immunity for dishonest or abusive content based on their comments being newsworthy.
Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a post that Mr Trump’s ban was active from the date of the initial suspension on 7 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,” it added.
“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.”
On his return, Mr Trump will be held to “a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions,” for any violations, Mr Clegg’s statement noted.
How did Mr Trump react?
In a recent statement, he said: “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75m people, plus many others, who voted for us…”
“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!”
Mr Trump attacked Facebook’s founder while giving his statement regarding the ban.
“Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife,” the former president said. “It will be all business!”
Facebook’s move allows Mr Trump to return to the platform before the 2024 presidential election.
Apart from Facebook, Mr Trump has also been banned from Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitch and other social media platforms.
