“Insult”: Donald Trump Reacts To Two Year Ban By Facebook

Donald Trump called the Facebook suspension “an insult” to Americans who voted for him.

On Friday, social media giant Facebook suspended former U.S. President Donald Trump from its platform until at least January 2023. The company also announced changes to how it will treat rule-breaking world leaders in the future.

The suspension, which will last at least two years from Jan. 7 when he was initially blocked after the Capitol riot, will only be lifted if the risk to public safety has receded, Facebook said. Donald Trump called the Facebook suspension “an insult” to Americans who voted for him.

After the Capitol hill riots, Trump has been permanently banned by Twitter and remains suspended by Alphabet’s YouTube.

In a post, Facebook’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg, said: “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.”

Trump, reacting to the decision, said in a statement Friday, “Facebook’s ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. 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!”

Facebook, however, said it would work with experts to decide when the public safety risk had subsided for Trump to be restored to its platforms. The platform said it would evaluate factors including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.

It also added that there would be a set of escalating sanctions that would be triggered if Trump broke further rules that could lead to his permanent removal.