It was announced Friday that Facebook Inc. (FB.O) had suspended former U.S. Until at least January 2023, the platform will eliminate Donald Trump from its platform and will change the way rule-breaking world leaders are treated in the future.
After the Jan. 7 Capitol riot, when he was initially blocked from posting, Facebook announced the suspension, which would last at least two years, will be lifted only if there is no longer a risk to public safety. Facebook suspended Trump’s account, calling it “an insult” to the Americans who supported him.
Political repercussions and setbacks for the republican party
With this new timeline, Donald Trump will lose a huge social media platform ahead of the November 2022 Congressional elections. Facebook might still be accessible to him after 2024.
Tweets from Trump have been permanently blocked by Twitter (TWTR.N) and remain suspended on Google’s YouTube (GOOGL.O). In the wake of shuttering his recently launched blog, he hinted he would launch his own service, but his company gave no details.
As Facebook’s head of global affairs explained in his post, Trump was suspended for severe reasons that deserved the most severe sanctions available under the new policy.
Facebook had major leverage over Donald J. Trump
According to Facebook’s independent oversight board in May, the company was able to enforce its unprecedented ban on Trump, who had posted offensive political content. A proportionate response will be needed, the board ruled, not an indefinite ban.
Taking a swipe at the record 75M people who supported him in the 2016 election, Trump said, “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to them and many others.” “2020 Presidential Elections are rigged. Protests must be organized to fix this with censorship and silencing. It is transparent that we must win this battle. It can no longer be tolerated by our nation.”
The social network will work with experts to restore Trump’s account once a public safety risk has passed. As part of the evaluation, the committee said it would look at signs of civil unrest, such as instances of violence.
Moreover, the document said that further violations of rules will trigger escalating sanctions that will lead to Trump’s removal.
POLICY CHANGES
World leaders and politicians who violated social media guidelines have been the subject of some controversy in recent years. As long as Facebook and Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) are concerned about the behavior of politicians, world leaders, and elected officials, these platforms should be given the benefit of the doubt.
As the Internet giant announced Friday, it will finally end its policy of exempting politicians from some content moderation rules when their content is deemed “newsworthy.” It will also disclose the instances when it does use this exemption.
However, Facebook’s spokesman told us that politicians’ posts will still be excluded from third-party fact-checking. Reports of some of these changes were originally published by The Verge.
Several people have criticized Facebook’s lack of involvement in political speech. Republicans and some free-expression advocates, however, have also criticized the Trump ban as disturbing.
In addition, the European Union and the United Kingdom launched formal investigations to determine if Facebook is misusing the vast amount of user information it collects.
Article was written by Jonathan P-Wright, freelance writer for R.N.H. Magazine and C.V.O. of RADIOPUSHERS
