According to a Facebook executive, the ban placed on former President Donald Trump on the platform could be lifted next year.
Trump has been banned from Facebook ever since the platform falsely asserted he incited the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Despite the lack of evidence that Trump was in any way, shape, or form involved with the riot, in May 2021, Facebook’s Oversight Board upheld the ban.
But Facebook Global Affairs President Nick Clegg says Trump’s two-year suspension will come to an end in January 2023, at which point the company will decide whether or not to lift it.
“When you make a decision that affects the public realm, you need to act with great caution,” Clegg told startup news company Semafor. Clegg explained that Facebook will consult “experts” and consider the supposed “risk of real world harm.”
Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
Regardless, I wouldn’t get too excited. Facebook’s record on censorship is terrible, and it seems unlikely they’ll allow Trump back on the platform. In recent weeks, we’ve learned that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had close communication with Dr. Fauci in an effort to censor information during the pandemic. Zuckerberg also revealed last month that the FBI warned Facebook there was going to be Russian disinformation during the 2020 presidential election, which Zuckerberg claims prompted Facebook decided to bury the Hunter Biden laptop story. Facebook also spied on Americans who questioned the results of the 2020 election at the behest of the FBI.
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