Facebook Bans Donald Trump For Two Years

Facebook recently announced that it has suspended the account of former US President Donald Trump for at least two years, i.e. till January 2023. They will further decide on how to treat such situations in the future.

Back in January, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed Trump’s ban on Facebook and Instagram as well. “We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” posted the Facebook CEO on his account.

Earlier Facebook had put a one-day ban on Trump’s account but will extend the ban indefinitely as Trump has used these social media platforms to condone the actions of his supporters rather than condemning it. “Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete,” added Zuckerberg.

The above statement was issued in January this year and now the latest statement suggests a ban of at least 2 years. Trump termed this ban as an “insult” and shared that this also proves as an offence to those who voted for him.  

This ban might come as a problem to Trump as Facebook has been one of his biggest platforms. This will show the effect during the November 2022 national midterm elections and also the next presidential election in 2024.

Twitter put a permanent ban in January itself. The social media deleted many of his tweets and permanently suspended his account. For some time Trump used the POTUS account to voice out his disappointment before Twitter deleted most of his tweets.

Announcing the ban, Facebook's head of global affairs Nick Clegg said in the post that “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.”

Facebook’s Policy Change

According to a Verge report, Facebook Inc is proposing to abolish a provision that exempts politicians from some content moderation standards, in what would be a huge policy shift for the world's largest social media network.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, has long contended that businesses should not regulate politicians' speech. Politicians' posts and ads are currently exempt from the company's third-party fact-checking program. Its "newsworthiness exemption" allows politicians' rule-breaking posts on the site if the public interest outweighs the harm, though Facebook said it did not apply for its newsworthiness allowance in the Trump case.