Facebook says it will suspend former US president Donald Trump’s accounts for two years following its finding that he stoked violence ahead of the fatal January 6 insurrection.
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, wrote in a blog post: “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded. We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.”
Facebook also plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that automatically exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site.
In response to the @OversightBoard's ruling, Facebook is suspending Donald Trump’s accounts for 2 years, effective from the date of the initial suspension in January this year. At that time, we will assess the public safety risk and extend the restrictions if conditions require. https://t.co/23JTzX2pfx
— Nick Clegg (@nickclegg) June 4, 2021
Advertisement
The social media giant said that while it will still apply this “newsworthiness” exemption to certain posts it deems to be in the public interest even if they violate Facebook rules, it will no longer treat material posted by politicians any differently from what is posted by anyone else.
The move is in response to recommendations from the company’s quasi-independent oversight board, which last month upheld a decision by Facebook to keep Mr Trump indefinitely suspended but said the company must decide what to do with his accounts within six months.
