Facebook is dropping the hammer on Donald Trump … announcing he’ll remain off the platform until early 2023 due to the “risk to public safety.”
The social media giant said Friday it’s decided 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.”
1/6/21
The suspension is effective from the date of the initial suspension … which came down on January 7. Facebook says it’ll reevaluate at the end of that period and “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.”
Facebook says when the suspension is eventually lifted “there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered” if Trump acts up again … which could include a permanent ban.
Trump, of course, was NOT happy about the decision … calling Facebook’s decision an insult to the 75 million people who voted for him in the last election. He added, “[Facebook] shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing and, ultimately, we will win. Our [c]ountry can’t take this abuse anymore!”
As we reported, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg banned Trump from the platform in the wake of the Capitol riot … saying it was too great a risk to America for Trump to remain on the platform.
Zuckerberg had hoped Facebook’s oversight board would make a final decision on Trump’s ban when it met a month ago. Instead, the board told Zuckerberg he would have to make that call.
Facebook says it knows its decision will face backlash — with some saying a private company had overreached, while others will say it went soft on Trump by not issuing a lifetime ban.
Interestingly, IF Trump opts to run for Prez again … January 2023 would be a critical time for him to get back on social media.