President Donald Trump is angered that Facebook will continue to ban him for at least another 18 months after his "Big Lie" about election fraud incited the January 6th insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
"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 VP of global affairs Nick Clegg said in a statement.
"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. 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," Facebook explained. "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."
That angered Trump. Unable to post to Facebook or Twitter and having shut down his blog, Trump responded with a statement emailed to reporters.
"Next time I'm in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!" Trump wrote.
Save America statement.Screengrab.
