What It Takes to Get Banned from Facebook

After former U.S. President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter following the attack by his supporters on Congress, a similar news recently emerged from two other social media platforms. Trump has been suspended for two years from both Facebook and Instagram.

This decision is valid until January 7, 2023, and if Facebook determines that there is still a serious risk to public safety, they will extend the restriction for a certain period and continue reassessing until that risk is mitigated. Even if Trump returns to Facebook and Instagram, and continues to violate user rules, he will face strict sanctions.

But what did Trump do wrong that led social media giants to ban him from their platforms?

Inciting Violence

It is believed that Trump, through his social media posts, supported the attacks by his supporters on the U.S. Congress on January 6 of this year. Facebook removed his posts the day after the attack. As Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Twitter profile, they assessed that their effect, and likely their intent, would incite further violence.

– His decision to use his platform to support, rather than condemn, the actions of his supporters in the Capitol building justifiably disturbed people in the U.S. and around the world – stated Zuckerberg’s post.

As reported by Glamour.com, Nick Clegg, Vice President for Global Affairs at Facebook, said that Trump’s actions seriously violated their rules, which warrants the highest available penalty.

It is clear, therefore, why Donald Trump, the former President of the United States and until recently one of the most important politicians in the world, was banned from Facebook. But what about other individuals who do not have as much influence as Trump, yet still violate the terms of use of these platforms with their posts?

Banned Forever

In addition to threats to public safety, access to Facebook can also be banned for using the platform in an illegal or fraudulent manner, which translates to posting unwanted content.

According to The Irish Times, you generally cannot be banned from social media for most first offenses you commit, unless they are particularly harmful. You will receive several warnings, your posts that violated the terms of use will likely be removed, or you may be temporarily suspended from the network.

However, you will be permanently banned from the platform if you continue to repeat the same offenses, meaning your account will be removed. Regarding Facebook, according to testimonies from those banned, once you are banned, it is impossible to regain access to that social network. Facebook simply does not forgive violations of their platform’s rules.

Unwanted Content and Messages

Given that millions of pieces of content are posted daily on social media, it is very difficult to control them. In addition to technological tools like artificial intelligence, users play an important role in reporting unwanted content.

When a user reports unwanted content, moderators must review it and decide whether it is offensive or not, and whether to remove it or not. Therefore, that decision does not depend solely on one person’s perception, but content can be removed if a moderator decides that it is indeed unwanted.

Unwanted content includes hate speech, violence, nudity, and similar, not only in posts but also in private messages (which are obviously not that private).

Additionally, there are a number of subtler things that can lead to the disabling of a user account, such as using a false name, opening multiple accounts, adding too many friends, liking too many pages at once, and posting fake news.

Therefore, if you do not want Facebook or administrators of any other social network to ban you from the platform, think carefully before you post any content. Also, keep in mind the content of the messages you send via Facebook Messenger. You could be banned from that network forever, with no possibility of return.

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