Several Democratic congressmen ask Facebook to keep Trump's account suspended

They say in a letter that the former president "is still spreading the Big Lie and thus undermining our democracy (...) that led to the deadly violence on January 6.”

Donald Trump Facebook — (Voz Media - Gage Skidmore/ Flickr)

Published by

Verónica Silveri Pazos

15 de diciembre, 2022

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Several Democratic congressmen sent a letter to Meta's President of Global Affairs, Nicholas Clegg, urging the company to follow through on its commitment to keep "dangerous and unfounded election denialist" content off its network even after the midterm elections.

Rep. Adam Schiff from California and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island argued that "after each election cycle, social media platforms often alter or roll back certain misinformation policies, because they are temporary and election-season specific" and demanded that Meta "commit to strong election misinformation policies year-round."

The congressmen also asked Meta for a briefing on issues related to "electoral integrity, disinformation and foreign malign influence." The letter is also signed by Representatives André Carson from Indiana and Kathy Castor from Florida.

Letter to Facebook December 2022 by VozMedia.

Trump's suspension to be upheld

The letter also calls for the suspension of former President Donald Trump's Facebook account to be upheld for "his continued efforts to spread the Big Lie that led to the deadly violence of January 6."

We urge Meta and its leadership to continue the suspension of former President Donald Trump's Facebook account beyond January, and to carefully monitor and counter the spread of harmful election misinformation, including the Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election, on Facebook.

Upon initially suspending the account, Facebook's statement read, "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 reassess until that risk has diminished."

Democrats say former President Trump continues to spread the Big Lie and undermine democracy by expressing support for pardoning people involved in the Jan. 6 police attack, if given the chance.

Trump has continued to post harmful election content on Truth Social that would likely violate Facebook's policies, and we have every reason to believe that he would bring similar conspiratorial rhetoric back to Facebook, if given the chance. On Election Day this year, Trump perpetrated false election narratives, including unfounded claims.

Trump's suspension expires on January 7, 2023 and a response is expected from Meta.