According to a fresh story from Politico on Tuesday, Facebook won’t rush to rethink its decision to ban Donald Trump, even if the former president declares he’s running for government again in the coming weeks.
President of global affairs for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Nick Clegg, stated that the firm would keep its January 7th, 2023 deadline for making a decision over whether to reinstate Trump’s accounts in an interview with Politico.
Since the tragic attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2017, Trump has been prohibited from using Facebook and Instagram. At the time, Facebook claimed that Trump had broken the company’s anti-incitement-of-violence policy with his posts prior to and during the unrest. That week, the majority of the top social media sites—including Twitter—removed official Trump accounts. Twitter stated in a blog post that the suspension was “permanent,” and YouTube stated that the ban will be lifted once it was less likely that his account would incite violence.
The information comes as Trump is anticipated to run for president once more in 2024 and may declare his campaign before this year’s midterm elections in November. An early declaration might impede the ongoing FBI and January 6th Committee investigations while galvanising Republican lawmakers and the former president’s supporters. However, if Trump makes his declaration before January 7th, Facebook may find itself in the embarrassing situation of having to keep its ban on the presumed front-runner for the presidency of a significant party.
