Donald Trump cut his teeth – and amassed his following – via social media, but the former president will have to wait a considerable amount of time to have his say on feeds in the future.
Facebook has suspended his account for two years, announcing the move after months of debate over what to do with the populist leader’s far right-leaning platform.
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s current vice-president of global affairs, said in a statement: “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 [sic] this year.”
Facebook said it would work with experts to assess the public safety risks posed by Mr Trump’s accounts – which also includes a profile on Instagram – before deciding whether to reinstate it once the suspension period is over.
“We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,” Mr Clegg continued. “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.”
If Trump dared to violate Facebook’s policies in the future, Mr Clegg warned, he would trigger a “strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions”. Quite what those sanctions are, however, remains to be clarified.
The official decision follows input from an independent advisory committee board – made up of leading media figures, academics and former politicians – who recommended that Mr Trump’s account should remain locked for the foreseeable, as should his profile on the Facebook-owned social media site Instagram.
The former president was suspended in January following the fatal attack on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. that saw violent mobs of Trump supporters overpower armed guards to storm Congress. The insurrection was believed to have been an attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election, which was cleanly won by President Joe Biden. He was removed from Facebook and Instagram for posts in which he appeared to praise the actions of the rioters over concerns for public safety.
As well as Facebook and Instagram, Trump has been suspended from Snapchat and YouTube, and permanently removed from Twitter.
