Former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have been banned for two years by Facebook Inc.
In January, he was banned indefinitely from both platforms in the aftermath of remarks he made about the US Capitol riots, but Facebook’s Oversight Board slammed the indefinite ban last month.
Mr. Trump’s activities were described by Facebook as”a severe violation of our rules”.
Mr. Trump called the measure an “insult” to the millions of people who voted for him in the presidential election last year.
Facebook’s action coincides with the expiration of a policy that exempted lawmakers from certain content moderation regulations.
It said that politicians would no longer be immune from false or abusive materials because their opinions were noteworthy.
According to Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs Nick Clegg, Mr. Trump’s ban was effective from the day of the original suspension on 7 January.
“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,” it added.
“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.”
Mr. Trump will be subjected to”a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions,”
according to Mr. Clegg’s statement.
In a statement issued from his Save America political action committee, Mr. Trump said: “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75m people, plus many others, who voted for us…”
“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!”
Mr. Trump assailed Facebook’s founder in a second statement on the two-year ban.
“Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife,” the former president said. “It will be all business!”
Mr. Trump will be able to return to Facebook before the presidential election in 2024 as a result of Facebook’s decision.
It also comes as he prepares to host large-scale in-person rallies, which were a hallmark of his presidential campaigns and administration. According to local media, one of his first stops will be in Dallas, Texas, in early July.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Mr. Trump’s communications platform, From the Desk of Donald J Trump, had been permanently shut down in the aftermath of his social media prohibitions.
Mr. Trump has been banned from Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitch, and other social media sites in the aftermath of the January riots, in addition to Facebook, which has over two billion monthly users.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Trump supporter, enacted the first bill in the US to penalize tech companies for de-platforming politicians last month.
