Facebook VP doubles down on Trump ban, says it was justified

Facebook's Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg during an interview on ABC's This Week stood behind the company's recently announced decision to keep former President Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts suspended until early 2023.

During the interview Clegg said that the company has "explained why we think in this particular case, the most severe penalty is justified." Clegg said that Facebook does not expect Trump "to welcome that decision. We do hope though that reasonable observers will believe that we are acting as reasonably and proportionately as we can, in these very difficult circumstances."

Facebook earlier this year had indefinitely suspended Trump's access to his accounts and then referred that decision to an oversight board. Last month the board issued a finding in which it upheld the decision to restrict Trump's access to post on the platforms, but simultaneously declared that "it was not appropriate for Facebook to impose the indeterminate and standardless penalty of indefinite suspension."

The social media giant recently announced that Trump's suspension would last for two years commencing from January 2021. 

"At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded," Clegg wrote in a company announcement. "We will evaluate external factors, including instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest. 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."