Voice of Donald Trump Is Banned on Facebook

Facebook has removed a video of former President Trump from the platform after his daughter-in-law Lara Trump posted a video of her interviewing her father-in-law. 

Facebook, like many other social media companies, have removed Donald Trump from their platforms in response to the storming of the Capitol on 6th January 2021, as detailed by Lotuseaters.com.

Lara Trump, Trump’s daughter-in-law who recently joined Fox News as a contributor, posted a clip from a recent interview with the former president to Facebook. Facebook subsequently removed the clip and sent an email informing her of the ban. The email read:

"We are reaching out to let you know that we removed content from Lara Trump’s Facebook page that featured President Trump speaking. In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the account,"

Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump’s son Eric, interviewed the former president for her own online show The Right View. The 18-minute interview discussed a wide range of topics, including the November election, President Biden’s actions in office, the behaviour of the press, and censorship, among other things. 

In response to the removal of the video clips from Facebook, Lara Trump said:

"And just like that, we are one step closer to Orwell's 1984. Wow."

The approach of banning such an important figure from being shown on a platform is unprecedented. Prior to Facebook’s latest move, only individuals’ own accounts were subject to being banned - whereas others were not being prevented from hosting content featuring said banned individuals. 

The suspension of Trump’s account is currently under review by Facebook’s Oversight Board, a body set up in late January, which Facebook claims is an independent body that rules on controversial moderation decisions. At the time of Trump’s ban, 7th January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: 

"We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great."

Regarding the creation of the Oversight Board, Zuckerberg outlined the role of this new body:

"A decision by the board on this case will be binding on Facebook and determine whether Mr Trump's suspension from access to Facebook and Instagram for an indefinite amount of time is overturned."

Will there be a reversal of Trump’s ban?

The language used by much of the press in the wake of the 6th of January was that of ”insurrection” and “Coup d’etat”. This framing was one of the central reasons why many social media platforms responded by suspending then-president Trump’s accounts. However, over time, the language used to describe the events at the Capitol has somewhat softened - with “riot” often being the pejorative term of choice in more recent media coverage of the events. This may reflect more recent news that none of the charges being levelled against those who took part in the events on 6th January would amount to an “insurrection” or a “coup”. 

The Department of Justice for the District of Columbia, responsible for the prosecution of individuals involved in the illegal activities at the Capitol, describes the events simply as the “Capitol breach” and summarises the charges levelled against the individuals in question as “Capitol breach cases”. Politico reports:

“Although prosecutors have loaded up their charging documents with language about the existential threat of the insurrection to the republic, the actions of many of the individual rioters often boiled down to trespassing”

Given the change of tone in discussions in the press, alongside the charges levelled against those involved, there could eventually be a reversal of the ban of Donald Trump once Facebook’s Oversight Board has completed its deliberation of the ban. It has been argued that Facebook has an incentive to keep controversial content on their platform, as such content drives engagement, which results in greater advertisement revenue. 

Paul Barrett, writing for Bloomberg, argues that Donald Trump’s ban will likely be overturned by the Oversight Board, highlighting that the Board has criticised Facebook’s Community Standards as being ambiguous. He stated that the board considers the context of the harm a post causes in a narrow and factual way which, he believes, will help Donald Trump reinstate his account. 

The board has already undermined some of Facebook’s content moderation decisions. The Oversight Board overturned the removal of a post, targeted under Facebook’s policy against hate speech, which made the claim “there is something wrong with Muslims psychologically.” The Oversight Board concluded that the “expression of opinion … did not advocate hatred or intentionally incite any form of imminent harm.” 

In another case, a post suggesting the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine was a cure for COVID-19, the board criticised the guidelines that led to the post’s removal as:

 “A patchwork of policies found on different parts of Facebook’s website [that] make it difficult for users to understand what content is prohibited.”

The Oversight Board’s conclusions will be announced in the coming weeks.