Facebook announced it will stop giving special treatment to politicians last week, but it still punted on a final decision about Trump.

• Politicians previously had wider latitude to espouse potentially false or dangerous views that would get regular users kicked off the platform: But it decided to change things, in large part because of Trump.

• Trump was booted after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot: After levying an indefinite suspension, Facebook’s version of the Supreme Court, a neutral arbiter, ruled Facebook had to make a final decision. Last week, Facebook made the decision to suspend Trump for at least another two years. 

So this isn’t really a final decision, then?

No. Facebook will be back to square one in early 2023. But it does mean Trump will be off the platform for the midterm 2022 election and that other politicians will have less wiggle room than before.  

The Verdict

Facebook essentially took the path of least resistance with Trump by punting for two years. Plenty of people will think the social network didn’t go far enough and others will say Facebook had no business banning Trump at all.