Democratic Lawmakers and Liberal Activists Have Meltdown After Meta Announces Decision on Trump's Facebook
Democratic lawmakers and left-wing advocacy groups had a meltdown Wednesday after Facebook parent company Meta Inc. decided to reinstate former President Donald Trump’s account.
Meta announced it intends to reinstate Trump’s account “in coming weeks” after banning the former president for posts he made after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion, which the company claimed showed “praise for people engaged in violence.”
Democratic lawmakers and advocacy groups condemned the move, with one group saying, “Donald Trump doesn’t need social media to spread his hateful ideas.”
Fight for the Future, a group that works to channel “internet outrage into political power,” said in a news release that Meta’s decision has made Trump the center of attention once again and will help him “accomplish his vile goals of silencing and oppressing the most vulnerable.”
“When we center these debates about specific moderation decisions, especially ones involving high profile, wealthy, politically powerful individuals like Donald Trump, we are utterly missing the point. Donald Trump doesn’t need social media to spread his hateful ideas,” Fight for the Future Director Evan Greer said in a statement.
UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group that “drives feminist, cultural and political change,” said Meta’s decision will give Trump the platform needed to “radicalize his followers and spread gendered and racialized disinformation encouraging violence,” according to a release obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Facebook has chosen Donald Trump and the traffic he brings to the platform over the lives and wellbeing of its users and the American people. Shame on them,” Bridget Todd, the group’s director of communications, said in the release.
“If Meta is unwilling to keep Trump off its platforms, then it must close the celebrity loophole that allows dangerous bad actors, like Trump, to spread violent rhetoric, hate, racism, and misogyny online without consequence,” Todd said.
BREAKING: Meta’s President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg announces the company will reinstate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks after a 2-year suspension.
— Rebecca Jarvis (@RebeccaJarvis) January 25, 2023
On Wednesday, Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff told MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” that Meta’s decision was based on “profit.”
.@RepAdamSchiff: “I think Facebook’s decision to reinstate Donald Trump is inexplicable. It represents in my view a total caving in and copping out. The only motive I can see is a profit motive.” #TheReidOut pic.twitter.com/gdzY7v2kGr
— The ReidOut (@thereidout) January 26, 2023
“Trump incited an insurrection. And tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Schiff wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “He’s shown no remorse. No contrition.
“Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous. Facebook caved.”
Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois called it a “dangerous decision.”
“Reinstating former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will only fan the flames of hatred and division that led to an insurrection,” she said on Twitter.
This is a dangerous decision. Reinstating former President Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will only fan the flames of hatred and division that led to an insurrection. Meta has had ‘guardrails’ in place that have been repeatedly ignored for high-profile accounts. https://t.co/hpoaHu8gNc
— Jan Schakowsky (@janschakowsky) January 25, 2023
David Roberts, a clean energy and politics researcher, was skeptical of Meta’s decision but wants to see if Meta will enforce the rules should Trump break them.
“This is such a ridiculous joke. Everyone knows that no matter what standards there are, no matter how minimal, Trump will immediately violate them,” he wrote in a tweet. “Then ‘Meta’ will be stuck explaining why it won’t ban him again despite that.”
Meta said that Trump will be suspended again if he violates user guidelines.
“In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” the company said.
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