Social media behemoth Facebook said the account of former US President Donald Trump will remain suspended for two years, and post that period it will re-assess the ban.
Facebook, along with other major media platforms Twitter and YouTube, had suspended Trump’s accounts after the Capitol Hill riots, alleging that the Republican leader’s rhetoric had instigated the attack.
On January 6, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Trump had stormed the Capitol building and clashed with police, resulting in four deaths, and interrupted a constitutional process by the Congress to affirm the victory of Joe Biden in the November 3 election.
“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,” Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs, Facebook said in a blog post.
Last month, the Oversight Board — a quasi-judicial body that makes consequential content moderation decisions on the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram — upheld the Silicon Valley-based company’s suspension of Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, following his praise for the people engaged in the violence at the Capitol.
But in doing so, the board criticised the open-ended nature of the suspension, stating that “it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension.”
-PTI
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