(Menlo Park, Calif.) – Facebook will suspend former President Trump from the platform for two years it announced on Friday. The company’s announcement follows a ruling from the Facebook Oversight Board in May that pushed the decision of whether or not to ban the former president back to Facebook and its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook also announced it will stop giving politicians some special treatment.
The following is a statement from David Brody, who leads the Digital Justice Initiative at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:
“Former President Trump should be banned permanently, not just suspended from Facebook for his actions. He used Facebook to endanger our democracy, empower hateful violence, and promote racial division. Many of the changes and actions that Facebook is now implementing are things that advocates called for years ago.
“Rather than looking toward the future and considering how to prevent the further risk of violence and online hate, Facebook is making these decisions only after serious harm has already occurred. The company must wake-up and realize that for the good of our nation, and the safety of our communities of color, Trump must be banned and hate, disinformation, and dangerous conspiracy theories must not be tolerated.”
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law – The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers’ Committee), a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice for all, particularly in the areas of voting rights, criminal justice, fair housing and community development, economic justice, educational opportunities, and hate crimes. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org.
