Former US President Donald Trump will initially remain banned from Facebook until the beginning of 2023. That gave the online network known in a blog post. Then you will weigh up with the help of experts whether there is still a risk to public safety through his Facebook presence.
Facebook, Twitter and Youtube banned Trump in January shortly before the end of his term in office. The trigger was the storming of the US Capitol by his supporters – and that he expressed sympathy for the attackers. He also continues to claim, without any evidence, that his presidential election victory in November was stolen by fraud. In the eyes of his critics, he continues to heat the mood in the country and causes social strife.
Facebook had suspended Trump’s account until further notice and then submitted this decision to its independent supervisory body for review, which can reverse such steps. The committee, which includes external lawyers and journalists, criticized the fact that the Facebook rules did not provide for an indefinite ban and instructed the online network to re-examine the case. Facebook has now suspended Trump for two years – but the deadline will start at the beginning of January this year.
In general, Facebook wants to be more transparent about decisions in which problematic content is left on the platform because it is newsworthy. The online network emphasized that such exceptions will be expressly pointed out in the future. In the future, such contributions by politicians will no longer be treated differently from those of other users. This is also a consequence of the recommendations of the supervisory body. The “Oversight Board” said they were examining Facebook’s decision on Trump and would comment when this investigation was completed.
Trump criticized the decision as an “insult” to 75 million voters who would have voted for him in the presidential election in November. “You shouldn’t get away with censoring and silencing – and in the end we will win.” Twitter has already emphasized that Trump has no way back on the platform. Google’s video platform Youtube, on the other hand, wants to unblock its profile when “the risk of violence has decreased”. A period for this has not yet been named.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said when asked about the Facebook ban on US President Joe Biden’s predecessor, the decision was entirely in the hands of the company. The Biden government is of the opinion that every major platform like Facebook or Twitter that reaches millions of Americans has a responsibility to take action against disinformation. “We have (…) learned a lot from the ex-president over the past few years about his behavior and his use of these platforms,” said Psaki. So it doesn’t seem very likely that it will change over the next two years.
Is Trump building his own network?
In order to be able to stay in contact with his followers despite being banned from the well-known networks, Trump set up his own blog area on his homepage, which was very reminiscent of Twitter in terms of the design. But only a few weeks after the start of the project “From Donald J. Trump’s Desk”, the attempt is already history and the blog is no longer accessible. Trump’s followers could give individual posts a “Like” heart and be notified of new posts. However, there was no opportunity to comment on the ex-president’s contributions.
An employee of Trump, Jason Miller, indicated that the former US president would soon be active elsewhere on social media again. He did not say anything more precisely. For a long time, Trump has been fueling speculation that he could start his own online platform.