FB Ending Special Treatment For Politicians Following Ban Of You-Know-Who

While likely to his chagrin, former President Donald Trump will most definitely not regain control of the Oval Office come August, there is one locale where 45 will soon restart his reign of conspiracy-pushing terror – good ‘ol Facebook. On Friday, the social media platform announced that the ex-POTUS's Facebook and Instagram accounts will remain suspended until January 2023 at the earliest, at which point site officials will reevaluate the temporary ban. 

“We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest,” the company explained on their website. “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.”  Once the ban is eventually lifted, the site says that “there will be a strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions that will be triggered if Mr. Trump commits further violations in future, up to and including permanent removal of his pages and accounts.” Allegedly inspiring a deadly insurrection on our nation's Capitol  – not a bannable offense!

Alongside announcing the parameters of 45's suspension, the tech giant also enacted another monumental policy change – making politicians abide by the same content moderation rules as the rest of us. On Friday, the tech giant said it would halt its controversial policy that exempted political figures from certain moderation standards. The change stems from the site's new policy to stop treating posts from politicians as “inherently of public interest or newsworthy” and therefore, moderating them like “that of any user," CNBC reported. Although the platform said it would make exceptions regarding the newsworthiness of politicians' posts in “rare cases," the financial publication noted, the company said it would publish updates discussing these cases for transparency purposes. 

The change comes after a ruling from Facebook's Oversight Board, which not only affirmed the site's choice to maintain 45's suspension but also spoke out regarding differing standards for politicians and regular users, noting that the “same rules should apply to all users.” 

So folks, if you were planning on becoming a politician for mere shitposting purposes, I regret to inform you that your dreams have officially been thwarted thanks to the Facebook overlords. But hey, at least there's always Parler?

For more internet nonsense, follow Carly on Instagram @HuntressThompson_ on TikTok as @HuntressThompson_, and on Twitter @TennesAnyone.