Former President Donald Trump has criticized a decision to ban him from Facebook and Instagram for two years as a form of censorship and an insult to his voters.
Facebook had suspended Trump's account the day after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot. It alleged he had incited violence. That suspension will last at least two years from the date of the initial block and will be lifted only if the risk to public safety has receded, Facebook said.
The ban means Republican Trump won't have access to at least one big social media application ahead of the November 2022 congressional elections. He may be able to return to Facebook well before the next presidential election in late 2024.
"Facebook's ruling is an insult to the record-setting 75 million 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!" Trump's statement said.
Several investigations have not found evidence of election fraud.
Trump has been permanently banned by Twitter too and remains suspended by Alphabet's YouTube after the riot. Trump, who this week shut down his recently-launched blog, says he will start his own application.
"Given the gravity of the circumstances that led to 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," Facebook's head of global affairs Nick Clegg said.
Facebook plans to end its rules that mostly give special treatment to politicians from the content moderation policies that apply to other users. This might have an international effect on how elected officials use the social network.
"If we determine that there's still a serious risk to public safety, we'll extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to reevaluate until that risk has receded," CNBC quoted Facebook as saying in a blog post.
Facebook's move comes as the company said that it would no longer give politicians immunity for deceptive or abusive content based on their comments being newsworthy.
