Trump banned on social media

Social media companies for most of the Trump administration were chastised by critics for taking too little action against posts by former President Trump that seemed to violate the platforms’ rules.

However, after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, social media companies — to varying degrees — took action against Trump’s accounts. While Twitter banned Trump permanently, Facebook pushed its decision off onto its quasi-independent Oversight Board.

In June the board said an indefinite suspension was not appropriate, leading Facebook to keep Trump’s account suspended until at least Jan. 7, 2023 — with the option to let him back on before the next presidential election.

That decision pleased neither side, fueling Democrats’ criticism that the platform wasn’t taking a hard enough stance against content that violates its policies and Republicans’ accusations that Facebook is censoring conservative content. A final call on Trump’s account is still unclear.