‘No Plans’ To End Trump’s Ban — Facebook

Facebook does not intend to lift the suspension on outgoing
President Donald Trump, the platform’s second in command Sheryl
Sandberg said Monday.

“Our ban is indefinite. We have said at least through the
transition. But we have no plans to lift it,” Facebook’s chief
operating officer said at an online forum organized by Reuters.

The social network last week suspended Trump’s Facebook and
Instagram accounts in the aftermath the violent invasion of the US
Capitol by a mob of his supporters, which disrupted the
certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

Twitter went a step further on Friday by deleting Trump’s
account, depriving him of his favorite megaphone.

Trump also was hit with suspensions from services like Snapchat
and Twitch.

“Our policies are applied to everyone,” Sandberg said, noting
that the platform has removed posts by the president’s son and
“other world leaders.”

“This shows that even a president is not above the policies we
have.”

In announcing the suspension last week, Facebook chief Mark
Zuckerberg said Trump used the platform to incite violent and was
concerned he would continue to do so.

Zuckerberg in late October warned about the potential for social
unrest after the election.

Sandberg admitted that the platform faced some hiccups in the
2016 US presidential election, failing to do enough against
manipulative campaigns orchestrated from Russia, but she said
Facebook had learned from its errors.

Before the November 3 presidential election, the social network
stepped up efforts to combat disinformation campaigns and suspended
many accounts, groups and pages with violent or hate-filled
content.

Asked about criticism the social media titans exert outsized
power, Sandberg said she was in favor of more regulation and said
she hoped to work with the Biden administration, which will take
office on January 20.

“We are a private company and we have a service we provide and
it is our responsibility to make sure that service is not used for
things it shouldn’t be used for, like what happened last
Wednesday,” she said.

AFP

Facebook does not intend to lift the suspension on outgoing
President Donald Trump, the platform’s second in command Sheryl
Sandberg said Monday.

“Our ban is indefinite. We have said at least through the
transition. But we have no plans to lift it,” Facebook’s chief
operating officer said at an online forum organized by Reuters.

The social network last week suspended Trump’s Facebook and
Instagram accounts in the aftermath the violent invasion of the US
Capitol by a mob of his supporters, which disrupted the
certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

Twitter went a step further on Friday by deleting Trump’s
account, depriving him of his favorite megaphone.

Trump also was hit with suspensions from services like Snapchat
and Twitch.

“Our policies are applied to everyone,” Sandberg said, noting
that the platform has removed posts by the president’s son and
“other world leaders.”

“This shows that even a president is not above the policies we
have.”

In announcing the suspension last week, Facebook chief Mark
Zuckerberg said Trump used the platform to incite violent and was
concerned he would continue to do so.

Zuckerberg in late October warned about the potential for social
unrest after the election.

Sandberg admitted that the platform faced some hiccups in the
2016 US presidential election, failing to do enough against
manipulative campaigns orchestrated from Russia, but she said
Facebook had learned from its errors.

Before the November 3 presidential election, the social network
stepped up efforts to combat disinformation campaigns and suspended
many accounts, groups and pages with violent or hate-filled
content.

Asked about criticism the social media titans exert outsized
power, Sandberg said she was in favor of more regulation and said
she hoped to work with the Biden administration, which will take
office on January 20.

“We are a private company and we have a service we provide and
it is our responsibility to make sure that service is not used for
things it shouldn’t be used for, like what happened last
Wednesday,” she said.

AFP