Facebook has extended the suspension of former U.S President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram account until January 2023. Trump’s account was previously suspended for inciting a violent attack on the U.S Capitol.
Nick Clegg, VP of Global Affairs at Facebook, revealed new measures against user violations and stated that Trump’s suspension was a serious violation of their guidelines:
“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. 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.”
The suspension case was earlier taken to Facebook’s Oversight Board to decide on an optimal solution. The Oversights board upholded the suspension on Trump’s account but argued that Facebook’s decision for indeterminate suspension was inappropriate:
“The Board has upheld Facebook’s decision on 7 January 2021 to restrict then-President Donald Trump’s access to posting content on his Facebook Page and Instagram account. However, it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension. Facebook’s normal penalties include removing the violating content, imposing a time-bound period of suspension or permanently disabling the Page and account. The Board insists that Facebook reviews this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform.”
The Board has upheld Facebook’s decision on January 7 to suspend then-President Trump from Facebook and Instagram. Trump’s posts during the Capitol riot severely violated Facebook’s rules and encouraged and legitimized violence. https://t.co/veRvWpeyCi
— Oversight Board (@OversightBoard) May 5, 2021
To abide by the Oversight Board’s judgement, Facebook will be working with experts near the end of the 2023 deadline to analyse the public safety risks and external factors that could be affected if Trump’s account is restored. If the account is restored after careful evaluation, stringent sanctions will be set and further violations could lead to permanent deletion of Trump’s account and pages on the platform.
Trump retaliated to the extended two years suspension and criticised Facebook’s decision:
“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! Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!”
Facebook also stated even though their decision would be controversial regardless of the outcome, the platform would aim to announce a fair judgement:
“We know that any penalty we apply — or choose not to apply — will be controversial. There are many people who believe it was not appropriate for a private company like Facebook to suspend an outgoing President from its platform, and many others who believe Mr. Trump should have immediately been banned for life. We know today’s decision will be criticized by many people on opposing sides of the political divide — but our job is to make a decision in as proportionate, fair and transparent a way as possible, in keeping with the instruction given to us by the Oversight Board.”
If Facebook decides to dismiss the ban, Trump would be able to join the platform before the 2024 elections come into motion. Moreover, Trump may soon begin holding rallies starting from July in Dallas, Texas.