Suspended from Facebook, Donald Trump denounces “an insult”

It’s official: Donald Trump is suspended from Facebook for two years. Like the former US president, politicians will now be punished like other users when they break the rules of the social network, especially in the event of disinformation, the American platform said on Friday (June 4th). “Facebook’s decision is an insult to the 75 million people, plus many others, who voted for us in the fraudulent presidential election of 2020,” the former head of state reacted in a statement, ostracized by most of the major platforms since the riots that killed several people and shocked the country.

Donald Trump will only be able to return when the “risks to the safety of the public” have disappeared, said the platform, which had temporarily excluded him on January 7 for having encouraged his supporters during the attack on the Capitol in Washington the day before , an unprecedented decision. The social media giant has created a new rule tailored to the events of January 6, with penalties ranging from one month to two years of suspension for public figures in the event of unrest and violence, according to a statement. . In this context, repeat offenders may be banned for good.

For Donald Trump, “Facebook’s decision is an insult”

Facebook had asked its very young supervisory board to assess the relevance of the indefinite exclusion of Donald Trump, but the body had returned the ball to its camp in early May. The council had above all called on the network to clarify its “arbitrary” rules: “the same rules should apply to all users” insisted its international and independent members. Whose act: Facebook has just ended the very controversial immunity enjoyed by elected officials and candidates who break its rules, in the name of “the public’s interest in learning”. “When we assess content in terms of importance to the information, we will not treat the words of politicians differently from those of others,” said the California group.

When we assess content in terms of importance to information, we will not treat what politicians say differently from others.Facebook’s supervisory board

The invasion of Congress: a turning point in Mark Zuckerberg’s politics

But until January, Facebook had mostly been lax vis-à-vis the Republican billionaire. Mark Zuckerberg, the boss of the Californian group, has refused for years to play the role of “arbiter of online truth”. A position that has become untenable with Donald Trump, quick to minimize the seriousness of the pandemic or to denounce, without proof, alleged electoral fraud. So many words that add fuel to the fire in a country that is already very divided.

The invasion of Congress, which killed several people, was a turning point. But Facebook had not returned to its list of political figures exempted from some of its rules and sanctions (on disinformation, in particular) so that the public could form their own opinion. This preferential treatment drew a lot of criticism, including internally. Facebook’s reluctance to remove messages from Donald Trump a year ago, seen as support for police violence during protests against widespread racism, had been publicly disowned by employees.

Accused of serving as a megaphone for the former president, the platform and its neighbors, like Twitter, have tightened their moderation of content, with a lot of reports backed by problematic messages. These initiatives do not prevent Democrats from blaming them for their ineffectiveness in containing disinformation, while Republicans accuse them of censorship. “They shouldn’t have the right to censor and muzzle like that. But in the end we will win, ”Donald Trump assured his supporters on Friday.