Today, Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook announced the company has banned former U.S. President Donald J. Trump for a period of two years, effective as of January 6, 2021.
“We are today announcing new enforcement protocols to be applied in exceptional cases such as this, and we are confirming the time-bound penalty consistent with those protocols which we are applying to Mr. Trump’s accounts,” Facebook said today. “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.”
Facebook asserts that Trump instigated the civil unrest that led to the Capitol Incursion on that date.
“We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest. If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to re-evaluate until that risk has receded,” the company said.
Trump vowed to fight Facebook, saying the ruling was nothing more than silencing the votes and opinions of 75,000,000 Americans who voted for him in 2020.
“Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore,” the President said.
In response, Trump announced he is launching his own social media platform with an expected launch date of July 4th, 2021.
When and if Trump returns to Facebook in two years, he will be placed on a probationary status, the company said.
“In establishing the two year sanction for severe violations, we considered the need for it to be long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement, to be significant enough to be a deterrent to Mr. Trump and others from committing such severe violations in future, and to be proportionate to the gravity of the violation itself,” Facebook wrote.