Former US President, Donald Trump's Facebook account suspended

On Friday Facebook has announced the suspension of Facebook and Instagram account of former US President Donald Trump for 2 years. If Trump is allowed back on the service, there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Trump further violates the company’s content moderation rules, Facebook said.

Facebook on Trump's account suspension

On January 6, Facebook has closed Trump's account "indefinitely", due to which Trump was no longer able to post anything on his account. When Facebook closed Trump's account in January, it cited violence and provocation in the US Capitol (Parliament Building) in favor of his move. FB said it did not use a reportable exemption policy for any of Trump's posts. However, Facebook declined to comment in this regard. “We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,” the company said in a blog post. “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.”

Trump's words on Facebook account suspension

In a statement issued by his office, Trump criticized Facebook’s decision, calling it an insult to his voters and falsely claiming that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win,” Trump said in the statement. “Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!”

Facebook's vice president (global affairs) Nick Clegg said in a post on Friday that after the period ends, it will be up to experts to assess whether public safety risks were mitigated. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also plans to end the controversial policy in which politicians automatically evade hate crime rules. The company said that this policy never applied to Trump.