Meta announced that former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram suspensions would be lifted in a few weeks, with “firewalls” in place to discourage repeat offences.
2021 Trump Commentary
Meta indefinitely suspended then-President Trump’s account after he praised people who engaged in anti-government violence that ended in multiple deaths.
The suspension was reviewed by the Meta Oversight Board who concluded that an indefinite suspension was inconsistent with the rules in place for dealing with policy violations.
“…it would not have been appropriate for Facebook to impose an indefinite, non-standard penalty for an indefinite suspension. Normal penalties for Facebook include removing the offending content, imposing a set period of time for the suspension, or permanently disabling the page and account.
The Board insists that Facebook review this matter to determine and justify a response that is proportionate to the rules that apply to other users of its platform.”
Facebook has responded to the board that the suspension will last for two years beginning on January 7, 2021, after which the suspension will be reconsidered.
The indefinite suspension remained in effect until an announcement that it would be lifted in the following weeks January 25, 2022, just over two years after the suspension.
Why was Trump’s comment removed?
The revision of the two-year suspension after the original suspension was imposed was scheduled for January 7, 2021. This was in agreement with the Oversight Board.
The Meta conducted a review of whether Trump continues to pose a risk to public safety and determined that enough has changed to reduce the risk.
The interpretation of the decision indicated that several factors were considered:
“To assess whether the critical risk to public safety that existed in January 2021 has sufficiently receded, we assessed the current environment according to our crisis policy protocol, which included consideration of the conduct of the 2022 US midterm elections and expert assessments of the current security environment.
It is our determination that the risk has sufficiently receded, and so we must adhere to the two-year timeline that we have set.
As such, we will restore Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks. However, we are doing this by using new guardrails to deter repeat offences.”
Public personal protection barriers on Facebook
post updated meta policies, Restrict the accounts of public figures during civil unrestwhich describes new protocols for dealing with public figures who violate Meta Guidelines.
The updated rules apply to both Facebook and Instagram.
The new policies establish graduated penalties that increase in severity based on content violations.
Meta explained that the purpose of the sanctions is to deter violations of their policies.
Penalties last from one to thirty days to two years for particularly serious violations.
Three factors will be considered to determine the severity of the punishment:
- The severity of the violation and the public figure’s history on Facebook and Instagram, including current and past violations.
- The potential impact of the public figure on individuals involved in acts of violence and their relationship with them.
- The severity of the violence and any physical harm associated with it.”
severe penalties
Public figures who return after being suspended will face severe penalties, including deactivating the account of any public figure who does not respond to repeated warnings.
The Meta Rules target QAnon content and outline the specific actions they will take that will limit the access of sanctioned public figures.
This means that anyone who follows a public figure’s restricted account will no longer see the content posted to those accounts, in addition to removing the reshare buttons.
Our updated protocol also addresses content that does not violate our Community Standards but contributes to the type of danger that occurred on January 6, such as content that delegitimizes an upcoming election or relates to QAnon.
We may limit the distribution of such postings and, for repeated cases, may temporarily restrict access to our advertising tools.
The move could mean that content would still be visible on Mr. Trump’s account but not distributed to people’s feeds, even if they follow Mr. Trump.
We may also remove the reshare button from these posts, and we may prevent them from being recommended or displayed as ads.”
Response to reinstate Trump
Facebook’s announcement said they expected to be criticized but the decision was guided by guidelines set by the Oversight Board.
The response on social media was predictably enthusiastic, with Congressman Adam Schiff Distinguish replay Like Facebook who “gave up”.
others Facebook accused No Rules or Procedures Although Meta’s decision was based on Rules and Procedures.
Many of the top tweets that commented on Trump’s replay commented on that Facebook’s decision was based on greed while others He regretted the lack of consequences of Trump’s action, even though he was punished with a two-year suspension.
Read the meta ad:
Ending the suspension of Trump’s accounts with new fences to deter repeat crimes
Featured image by Shutterstock / Evan El-Amin
