Facebook: Trump will remain banned through at least January 7, 2023



Facebook has suspended former President Donald Trump for two years in response to a company Oversight Board ruling, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

The social media giant suspended Trump in January following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and later determined that his suspension would be on an indefinite basis.

The company's Oversight Board ruled, however, that two years is a suitable timeframe, and that an indefinite suspension simply lacked reason.

What are the details?

A blog post on the company's website states that the network will only reinstate the former president's credentials "if the risk to public safety has receded."

The Post reported, "In ruling on whether the social network should reinstate Trump's account on its service, the largely independent Facebook-funded Oversight Board said the social media company was correct in suspending him in the moment but lacked a clear rationale for keeping him off the platform indefinitely."

In the posting, Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said, "We know that any penalty we apply — or choose not to apply — will be controversial. There are many people who believe it was not appropriate for a private company like Facebook to suspend an outgoing president from its platform, and many others who believe Mr. Trump should have immediately been banned for life. We know today's decision will be criticized by many people on opposing sides of the political divide — but our job is to make a decision in as proportionate, fair, and transparent a way as possible, in keeping with the instruction given to us by the Oversight Board."

The announcement accompanied a graphic depicting how the company will roll out similar suspensions going forward, highlighting "heightened penalties for public figures during times of civil unrest and ongoing violence."

Depending on the violation, those people will be banned for a period of a month up to two years, and any "violations after initial restrictions" are subject to "heightened penalties, up to and including permanent removal."

Clegg added, "In establishing the two year sanction for severe violations, we considered the need for it to be long enough to allow a safe period of time after the acts of incitement, to be significant enough to be a deterrent to Mr. Trump and others from committing such severe violations in future, and to be proportionate to the gravity of the violation itself."

Christian scholar tossed in Facebook jail for 'violence and incitement.' His crime? Objecting to Biden's transgender military policy.



Facebook suspended a prominent Christian scholar for 24 hours earlier this week — for speaking out against transgender ideology and President Joe Biden lifting the ban on transgenders in the military — calling his words "violence and incitement," PJ Media reported.

What are the details?

Robert A.J. Gagnon, who teaches New Testament Theology at Houston Baptist University, was banned Tuesday, the outlet said.

Gagnon also holds a Ph.D. in Pauline theology and sexuality from Princeton Theological Seminary and published "The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics," PJ Media said.

The outlet said Gagnon posted a defense of his friend, Laurie Higgins, who got a seven-day ban for criticizing Biden's policy. Then Gagnon himself was thrown in Facebook's slammer for the following text, PJMedia said:

My friend Laurie Higgins has been suspended for 7 days, for making an accurate and witty satirical post, by left-wing FB overlords who seek to squash all dissent on the issue of transgenderism, no doubt emboldened by the Biden/Harris administration. There's nothing inaccurate about this post.
  1. Biden's lifting of Trump's transgender military ban will indeed put women military personnel in the awful position of having to shower with biological males.
  2. Trans-promoters aren't content with having men invade the domain of women's sports and shelters.
  3. "Transgender" ideology is indeed a pseudo-science, compelling people to reject basic biological facts.
  4. Promoters of "transgenderism" do indeed exhibit traits of a religious cult in their mind-numbing, science-denying conformity. The censoring and suspending of Laurie Higgins rather proves the point, doesn't it?

Gagnon said Facebook claimed his criticisms violated the social media giant's "Community Standards on violence and incitement," the outlet reported.

What did Gagnon have to say?

"There was absolutely no incitement to violence on our part. We abhor violence done to any person," Gagnon told PJ Media on Tuesday. "This is just a thinly veiled and pathetic excuse for censorship of any critical views toward trans-tyranny over our consciences, religion, and reason."

He also noted that "only one point of view is being allowed. [Former President Donald] Trump was not the great danger to the Republic. Left-wing canceling is," the outlet added.

Facebook, however, told Gagnon it has such "standards" in place "to prevent and disrupt offline harm," PJ Media reported, adding that Facebook didn't respond to the outlet's request for comment.

Another professor steps in

Robert P. George, McCormick professor of jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, spoke out on Facebook against the platform's attack on Gagnon, the outlet said.

"Censorship on Facebook and some other social media has now gone way beyond the bounds of the reasonable, and is grossly violating representations about free speech made by CEOs and other officers of the major platforms," George wrote, according to PJ Media, calling Gagnon's suspension "an egregious case."

"We need robust free speech in what functions today as the public square. We need dialogue and debate. People need to be able to criticize and forcefully challenge idea — including ideas that are dominant in elite sectors of the culture and among people in the tech industry," George said, the outlet reported. "What we do NOT need is the silencing of dissent. That is never a good idea. Once it starts and becomes normalized … things do not end well."

George concluded, according to PJ Media: "If anyone from FB is reading this comment, please, I beg you, reconsider the path down which you are going. It is not a good one. It is a healthy spirit of civil libertarianism we need; not dogmatism and the enforcement of groupthink."

Anything else?

Gagnon had more to say Thursday:

On the bright side, he also noted Thursday that Higgins' ban had been lifted:

(H/T: The Christian Post)

After President Trump's de-platforming, his Facebook page is drawing a colossal number of new 'likes'



President Donald Trump's Facebook page continues to draw new "likes" despite the president having been de-platformed, Newsweek reported.

What are the details?

According to a Thursday report, Trump's Facebook page has brought in nearly 150,000 new likes since Facebook indefinitely suspended the president from using his account on Jan. 7.

Citing analytics information from Social Blade, Newsweek reported that Trump's YouTube channel — which was also ultimately suspended — has gained 100,000 new subscribers since Jan. 6., the very day that a violent mob descended on the U.S. Capitol.

On Jan. 7, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a post announcing that Trump's Instagram and Facebook accounts would be indefinitely blocked.

"Over the last several years, we have allowed President Trump to use our platform consistent with our own rules, at times removing content or labeling his posts when they violate our policies," Zuckerberg wrote in his widely viewed Facebook post. "We did this because we believe that the public has a right to the broadest possible access to political speech, even controversial speech.

"But the current context is now fundamentally different, involving use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government," he added.

On Monday, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said that the company has "no plans" to rescind the suspension.

What did Trump say?

The riots resulted in a historic second impeachment against the president after much of the media and many government officials accused him of inciting the riots as insurrection.

Following the impeachment, Trump issued a statement on the violence that took place at the U.S. Capitol.

"As I have said, the incursion at the U.S. Capitol struck at the very heart of our Republic. It angered and appalled millions of Americans across the political spectrum," he said in a Wednesday statement. "I want to be very clear. I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country, and no place in our movement.

"Making America great again has always been about defending the rule of law, supporting the men and women of law enforcement, and upholding our nation's most sacred traditions and values," he added. "Mob violence goes against everything I believe in, and everything our movement stands for. No true supporter of mine could ever endorse political violence."