Facebook says Trump’s ban will last at least 2 years

Facebook said on Friday that former President Donald Trump’s suspension from the service would last at least two years, putting a timeline on its ban for the first time since the company cut him off in January.

>> Mike Isaac and Sheera FrenkelThe New York Times
Published : 4 June 2021, 05:15 PM
Updated : 4 June 2021, 06:08 PM

The company said Trump would be eligible for reinstatement in January 2023, when it will then look to experts to decide “whether the risk to public safety has receded,” Facebook said. The company barred the former president from the service after comments he made about the Capitol riots.

Supporters of President Donald Trump swarm scaffolding prepared for the inauguration and are met by tear gas deployed by the authorities at Capitol Building in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

“Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to Mr. Trump’s suspension,” Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Facebook, wrote in a company blog post, “we believe his actions constituted a severe violation of our rules which merit the highest penalty available under the new enforcement protocols.”

Former US President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, US February 28, 2021. Reuters

If reinstated, Trump will be subject to a set of “rapidly escalating sanctions” if he committed further violations, up to and including the permanent suspension of his account.

Facebook also said it was ending a policy that treated content by politicians differently from that of other users. The policy had previously been used to allow Trump, and other global leaders, to post content that violated Facebook’s rules.

©2021 The New York Times Company