Facebook could hit Trump with sanctions if it allows him to return to the platform in the next few weeks.
There is a two-year ban on Trump's Facebook account that expires on Saturday.
Meta will announce its decision regarding Trump's account in the coming weeks, according to Andy Stone.
The ban could be lifted if the company decides that the risk to public safety has gone down.
When the company suspended Trump for his praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol, and his decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the capitol building, it was in line with the process Meta laid out.
At the time of Trump's suspension, Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said the company would evaluate "external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest."
If Trump is restored, will Facebook impose more restrictions on his account? An internal working group made up of multiple department heads has been tasked with making a decision on whether or not to bring back Trump. If Trump violates the company's policies in the future, Facebook will implement a "strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions". He could be removed from his account permanently.
The day after rioters tried to disrupt the certification of Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, Facebook banned Trump's account. In June 2020, however, Facebook revised its decision to a two-year ban that could be extended depending on the risk to public safety. Any public figure who aided, abetted, fomented or praised acts of violence would be banned from Facebook, according to ABC News. Trump said that the ban was an insult to the 75 million people who voted for him in the election.
The end of Trump's two-year Facebook ban comes two months after Musk reinstated Trump's account on the platform, although the former president rejected Musk's offer. After he called the rioters "American patriots" and the riots "things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is stripped away", Trump was banned from the social networking site.
Meta says that Trump's use of Facebook to support the mob storming the Capitol caused the former president's two-year suspension, but he was harshly criticized for spreading misinformation on the platform. His post on Covid was deleted by Facebook and he clarified that ballots can take weeks to count. During the racial justice protests in 2020, Trump posted suggestions that looters could be shot, which Facebook declined to remove, sparking criticism that the platform was being too tolerant. In order to prevent foreign election interference, Facebook created security features, launched pages dedicated to pre-vetted election information, and added fact-check labels.
More than 350 of Trump's posts on Truth Social would have violated Facebook's policies, according to a study published last month.
Donald Trump asked users to vote on his account.
Is Trump going to return to the social networking site? Here are the things that got him banned from the first place.
Meta is going to make a decision on Trump's return to Facebook.
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