The Democratic National Committee urged Facebook to permanently ban former President Donald Trump from using it’s platform in the future in a Twitter post Wednesday.
“Facebook should permanently ban Donald Trump,” the tweet read. “Retweet if you agree.”
Retweet if you agree. pic.twitter.com/4S7GYqEp9L
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 5, 2021
Facebook’s oversight board released a statement Wednesday morning announcing that they would be upholding the Jan. 7 decision to ban Trump from using the platform.
“The Board found that, in maintaining an unfounded narrative of electoral fraud and persistent calls to action, Mr. Trump created an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible,” the statement read.
“On January 6, Facebook’s decision to impose restrictions on Mr. Trump’s accounts was justified. The posts in question violated the rules of Facebook and Instagram that prohibit support or praise of violating events, including the riot that was then underway at the U.S. Capitol. Given the seriousness of the violations and the ongoing risk of violence, Facebook was justified in imposing account-level restrictions and extending those restrictions on January 7,” the statement continued.
The board noted, however, that Facebook’s imposition of an “indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension” was “not appropriate.”
“The Board insists that Facebook review this matter to determine and justify a proportionate response that is consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform. Facebook must complete its review of this matter within six months of the date of this decision,” the statement said.
Trump was suspended from using Facebook and Instagram on Jan. 7, a day after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building in an effort to prevent the counting of the electoral votes in the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Following Trump’s suspension from Facebook and Instagram, Twitter announced on Jan. 8 that they would be permanently banning Trump, after previously putting a temporary suspension on his account.
Trump announced Tuesday that he was launching a new social media platform, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” which would allow supporters of his to keep in communication and follow his updates.
While users on the platform can share Trump’s posts to sites such as Facebook and Twitter, the platform does not currently have a way to let people interact with the former presidents posts, Fox News reported.
