Facebook announced Friday that former President Donald Trump would be suspended for an additional two years due to the “gravity of the circumstances” that led to his initial suspension.
“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,” Facebook said in a statement. “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.”
Just in from Facebook: “Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension,” FB is “suspending his accounts for two years, effective from the date of the initial suspension on January 7th this year.”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 4, 2021
Facebook said following the two-year period, unidentified “experts” will “assess whether the risk to public safety has receded.”
“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.” (RELATED: Twitter Is Suspending Accounts That Post Donald Trump’s Statements From His Website)
Facebook threatened “a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions,” including permanent removal against Trump if he violates the platform’s rules.
Facebook said the two-year period was enough “to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement.”
Trump was “indefinitely” banned from Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7 after pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.
“The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Zuckerberg alleged Trump incited an insurrection.
The decision to ban Trump was then referred to the company’s Oversight Board to determine whether the move was justified.
The board was created by Facebook to review their decisions regarding freedom of expression. The board is comprised of “experts and civic leaders from around the world with a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives.”
Trump’s ban was upheld by the Oversight Board in early May, claiming Trump’s repeated claims of election fraud “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.”