Facebook confirms Donald Trump is still suspended, no plans to lift suspension
The social media platform has no plans to restore Trump’s account following the former president’s announcement that he is seeking a second term in the White House, the company confirmed on Wednesday. Trump was kicked off Facebook after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
However, Trump may not have to wait long to get back on the site. His suspension from Facebook is set to be reconsidered in January, two years after it was first imposed.
There will be one change immediately: as a candidate, Trump will no longer be subjected to Facebook fact checks. That’s because under Facebook’s rules, comments from elected officials and candidates for office are not subject to fact-checking on its site. The Associated Press participates in Facebook’s independent fact-checking program.
Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media posed a significant challenge for major social media platforms, which sought to balance the public’s need to hear from their elected leaders with concerns about misinformation, harassment and inciting violence in to reconcile.
After the Jan. 6 riots, Trump was also kicked off Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent company Meta. Trump’s ability to post videos on his YouTube channel has been suspended.
YouTube spokeswoman Ivy Choi said Wednesday the company had no plans to lift the suspension.
Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, said he disagreed with the platform’s decision to ban Trump following the Jan. 6 attack. Musk said no announcement about recovering banned users will be made until a content moderation council reviews the issue
Twitter did not respond to questions about whether Trump’s candidacy will affect the decision. Since his suspension, Trump has launched his own social media platform, TruthSocial, and said he has no plans to rejoin Twitter if allowed.
The platforms would be justified in expanding or making permanent their restrictions on Trump, said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of the Real Facebook Oversight Board, a group that has criticized Meta’s response to extremist content and misinformation.
“The big problem is treating candidates as if they belonged to a special category and deserved special treatment,” Beirich said. “If you have rules, they should apply to everyone. The decision should not be a fight.”
Facebook initially suspended Trump’s account for 24 hours on Jan. 6 after he praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol. Facebook inventor and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an indefinite suspension Jan. 7, adding that “the risks of allowing the President to continue using our service during this time are simply too great.”
The company’s quasi-independent oversight board upheld the ban, but instructed Facebook to set a deadline. The ban is now scheduled to expire on January 7, 2023.
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