Facebook has just announced Donald Trump, the former president who incited an insurrection and was “indefinitely banned,” will be allowed to return after a two-year period, if he passes an assessment at that time. The two-year period gives Trump just enough time to flood the social media platform with advertising dollars should he run again for president. He could be eligible to return in January 2023.
“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,” Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said in a statement Friday as ABC News reports.
Trump was banned from Facebook for having “created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible.”
Facebook indefinitely banned Trump on January 6, the day of the Capitol Hill insurrection he incited. An independent review board created by Facebook upheld that ban saying: “Given the seriousness of the violations and the ongoing risk of violence, Facebook was justified in suspending Mr. Trump’s accounts on January 6 and extending that suspension on January 7.”
But Facebook appears to suggest that the former president has a right to be on their platform, and an irrevocable, permanent ban is nearly impossible.
“At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded,” Clegg says in the Facebook statement. “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.”
“When the suspension is eventually lifted, there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Mr. Trump commits further violations in future, up to and including permanent removal of his pages and accounts.”
Trump was impeached twice, and is currently facing at minimum several criminal investigations.
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change.