Facebook does not plan to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account after he announced his third presidential bid, The Associated Press reports.
Trump, who was booted off Facebook and other social media platforms after stoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, will remain banned on the site.
Trump is also banned from Twitter, though new owner Elon Musk has suggested that the ban could be reevaluated.
Trump has since launched his own social network, Truth Social, and said he is not interested in returning to Twitter.
A spokesperson for YouTube said the network does not have plans to lift Trump’s suspension.
Suspension will be reevaluated:
Though the Facebook ban remains in place, it is set to be reevaluated in January, two years after he was first suspended.
Facebook’s oversight board said Trump should be banned for two years. The ban will be reevaluated after the two years are up.
“We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,” the company said in a blog post. “If we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to re-evaluate until that risk has receded.”
No fact-checks:
Though Trump remains suspended, the company said it will no longer fact-check his statements now that he is running for president.
The company said in an internal memo that “political speech is ineligible for fact-checking. This includes the words a politician says as well as photo, video, or other content that is clearly labeled as created by the politician or their campaign.”
“We define a ‘politician’ as candidates running for office, current office holders – and, by extension, many of their cabinet appointees – along with political parties and their leaders,” the memo said. “If former President Trump makes a clear, public announcement that he is running for office, he would be considered a politician under our program policies.”
