Several Democratic Party lawmakers have written a letter urging Meta to maintain the ban on former President Donald Trump beyond January, claiming restoring his accounts would be a “tragic mistake.”
Trump was indefinitely suspended from Facebook after the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. Meta’s Oversight Board, the company’s quasi-Supreme Court that reviews content moderation decisions, gave Facebook until January 7, 2023, to decide whether to permanently ban or restore Trump.
In a letter addressed to Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Andre Carson (D-IN), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) called on Meta to maintain Trump’s ban.
We obtained a copy of the letter for you here.
“Following the 2022 midterm elections, we write to urge Meta to maintain its commitment to keeping dangerous and unfounded election denial content off its platform. To that end, we also urge Meta and its leadership to continue the suspension of former president Donald Trump’s Facebook account beyond January,” the Democrat lawmakers wrote.
They claimed Trump would “incite violence,” and Meta had a responsibility to prevent that. The lawmakers also invited Meta to a briefing on its efforts to fight misinformation.
Before the briefing, the lawmakers asked the company to answer several questions, including whether it would analyze Trump’s posts on his platform Truth Social before considering restoring his account. Trump has continued with his election fraud claims on his platform.
“Will Meta analyze the posts of Trump on Truth Social and other statements he has made when making a decision on his suspended account?” the letter asked.
